Arubaito
by etsuyo
Summary: Katsuya is in college and desperate for a job. He needs one if he wants to keep a roof over his head. Finally given a break to work as an assistant for a large company’s CEO, Jou has no idea that this business is a recent acquisition of Kaiba Corp.. [SxJ]
1. Prospect

Disclaimer: Characters, worlds, people, games, and everything else is owned by and copyrighted to Kazuki Takahashi. This is a non-for-profit fan work with no particular personal gain in mind. I own the writing and nothing else.

As I haven't finished reading or watching the series, please excuse any greatly differential plot points, however, it is _meant_ to be slightly AU and the characters probably have their own OOCness about them. Also, this is my first time writing this fandom and my first fic in almost two years, so please be kind… thankyou.

Etsuyo

* * *

Money. It was the bane of his existence. Well, of anyone's existence really, he thought dejectedly as his eyes trailed over the "positions vacant" adverts in the local paper. A black pen hung limply from Jonouchi Katsuya's right hand, unable to circle anything. His hours at college left him little time to work at a part time job, even if he didn't factor in homework. So it would have to be something on the weekend, really. But not many places were open on the weekend, which was presenting quite a problem for the blonde. His eyebrows furrowed as he began to read another advert: "Casual worker wanted" Okay.. that was a good start, he could do casual. He scanned down further; "Kitchenhand needed for coffee shop in the heart of the city, 15 hrs a week." Good.. good.. Katsuya's eyes actually started to pay attention and he leaned a little closer to the paper to get a better look at the description. "Day work only, Monday to Friday."

He dropped the pen.

It was always the way, job's he could actually apply for and they wanted people during the hours he needed to attend college. And, whilst college could sometimes be the most boring place in the world, he needed to be there so he could learn. But to be able to keep going, he needed a job. And at present it seemed life just didn't want him to further his education. Sure, there were weekend jobs, for people who could do production work or drive buses or operate forklifts. However, Katsuya couldn't do any of these things. He must have missed that day in high school where they trained all young adults to be ready to join the forklift-operating workforce. Damn.

If there were any unqualified weekend positions, he was sure they went to the privileged or people who didn't really need them. Probably, anyway.

He'd gone straight to college from high school, as had his three other best friends Yugi, Anzu, and Honda. They'd even decided to attend the same university, so although they weren't all doing the same degree they could at least see each other sporadically around campus.

But, he reminded himself, he wouldn't be able to continue that much longer if he didn't find a job soon. He figured he had enough money to last him one more months rent, then he'd be forced to drop out of college and take up a full time job just to allow himself to continue living under a solid roof, and eating at least once a day. Three squares meals would only be a bonus.

Thinking of this he mentally rallied himself and shook his head slightly before peering down at the newspaper again with renewed enthusiasm, as if this change of mind would actually alter what was already printed.

Anything was possible, right?

And maybe luck is on my side, Katsuya thought, as he spied a promising advertisement: "Weekend worker needed, possibly some afternoon shifts in upcoming month," He could work with that, right? "for filling and assisting work. All applications to Shichi Corporation Resources Dept..." then the contact details followed.

A corporation? Katsuya groaned, he had no chance there. An image of Seto Kaiba smirking at him bedecked by proof of his vast riches flashed through his mind. Jeez.. that guy... Katsuya and his friends hadn't seen Seto since they had graduated, and the guy certainly didn't lower himself to going to the same university as the rest of his ex-classmates. Oh no, if he was going to study it'd be somewhere expensive, advanced, and famous. The kind of place where you graduated and walked into a position running a company. Although, in Seto's case, he already did.

He probably owns half the world by now, Katsuya thought lamentably. It irked him that there were people in the world who never had to do any real work, and simply got to sit back and enjoy their riches, being able to spend their money on whatever they wanted. Well, of course there would be a _certain_ amount of effort required to hold all that buisnessy stuff together, but mainly it was the lounging and the spending of the millions that was what that kind of life was all about, he was definitely sure.

The words of job-seeking advice from Yugi's grandfather came floating back to him; "Even if there's only a tiny chance you'll get it, apply for it, you never know your luck." With this in mind Katsuya copied out the address onto an envelope, placed a copy of his resume inside and sealed it shut.

With no other jobs to apply for he walked down to the end of his street to mail the letter, then headed to the arcade to meet Honda.

"I won't be able to come again on Saturday, I've got to help Grandpa with the new shipment of Capsule Monsters that's coming in." Yugi, still shorter than almost everyone he knew smiled apologetically up at Katsuya and Honda. Yugi lived at home still and his Grandpa let him pay his board by having Yugi work in his shop on the weekend. Although Yugi had been doing that for years, Sugoroku Mutou had decided to put a little more excuse behind it so that Yugi would stop offering to work another job to pay for his room, and even gave his grandson money on the side so he could continue to go out and enjoy spending time with his friends.

"Capsule Monsters? Man, does anyone even play that game anymore?" Honda said, adjusting his bag as he walked.

"What are you talking about? I know for a fact that you took out your set only two weeks ago!" Katsuya grinned, ducking as Honda took an annoyed swipe at him.

Although, there was probably a lot of truth in what Honda had said, new games came out almost every week it seemed and the old ones seemed to fade out of existence just as quickly. Although the more popular ones lasted longer of course, and Duel Monsters in particular seemed to still be an extremely popular game. The Kame Game shop certainly seemed to be receiving deliveries of boxes of cards on a regular basis and one could only assume that they were being sold instead of piling up.

They continued chatting even as they slowed down outside of Katsuya's apartment and walked into the entrance hall. Yugi was happily chirping about the new types of Capsule Monsters and Honda was feigning disinterest while Katsuya quickly ducked into the alcove where all the letterboxes were located. He removed his mail then rejoined his friends, frowning slightly as he spied a foreign envelope.

Honda seemed to pick up on his friends distraction first, "What's that?" He asked casually, pressing the button to call for the elevator that would take them to the 4th floor of the apartment building.

Katsuya paused to re-read the company's logo and address printed on the envelope before replying; "Just something from a 'Shichi Corporation'"

Both of his friends threw him a confused look, obviously wanting him to expand on that, "Uh…" Katsuya racked his brains, "Oh! I think I applied for a random job with them. Must be a rejection letter!" The bright tone and broad smile seemed somewhat at odds with the negative statement he'd just made. But honestly, he hadn't counted on hearing back from them at all, and he had applied for so many jobs lately, it was no wonder it had taken him a while to recall this specific one.

"Ah." Yugi returned his smile with a look of veiled sadness, all Katsuya's friends knew how badly he needed a job at the moment, and what it would mean if in a month he couldn't come up with the required rent. Yugi had even offered that he move in with them, and although they didn't, at present, have a spare room for Katsuya, Yugi and his grandfather assured him that if it came to it they could find the space. He just really didn't want to be a burden to anyone else, so had sworn he'd try his best to support himself and only agree to something _temporary_ with one of his friends if worst came to absolute worst.

The elevator stopped at the fourth floor and the three boys got out and headed down the hall to Katsuya's small apartment. They were currently all in post-study de-stressed moods, having just spent the last few hours at work in the college library; thus it was time to reward the effort with some game-playing.

A number of hours and defeats at Soul Caliber later, Katsuya was once again left to his own in his apartment, suddenly burdened with the task of dinner. He wasn't really a cook, something which he would not deny, so meal times usually consisted of something microwavable. He didn't eat altogether a lot, a fact which he often failed to mention to his friends. He knew Yugi, in particular, would start worrying over him if he did. However without a job it was hard to afford it, and shelter and study came before food, right?

Spying a cup of instant noodles (a student's main source of nutrition) he grinned and reached over to pick it up. Underneath it he found his mail, which he hadn't bothered to open yet, so whilst the hot water cooked the noodles he extracted the notices without much interest. Finally he came to the rejection letter, and although he knew what it would say, there were at least 30 seconds left until the noodles were done and he needed something to do during that time.

Yes, he'd heard all the lines before; 'We are sorry to inform you…', 'Unfortunately your application was not…', 'No…' …

With resignation he tore open the envelope and took out the letter.

'Congratulations…'

Okay, _that_ wasn't a word he was used to. Confused, Katsuya read on.

'We are pleased to offer you a trial placement with Shichi Corporation. During this time other applicants will be also trialed, if you are successful we would be happy to offer you permanent employment.'

There was more, but although his eyes were moving over the text, he wasn't taking it in. This was… a job offer. A job offer?! His heart leapt.

No... wait… a _trial_ offer. But, that was still good. He'd just need to do his best and show them that they wanted to permanently employ him. Yeah, that's what he'd do. And even if they didn't like him, it solved his immediate money problems. And that's what was important. Although, why the hell they wanted to give him of all people a chance was beyond him. He had figured he would have been way under qualified for the job and had no chance at getting as much as an interview.

They must have been desperate.

Katsuya was so distracted it took him a whole minute to notice that the timer on the noodles was going off. Great; over-cooked, limp and soggy noodles. But it was worth it – soon he'd be able to afford proper microwavable meals!

Barely able to contain his happiness, and his muscles struggling with the wide grin on his face, Katsuya simultaneously poured out the noodles and grabbed his phone to call his best friends and tell them the good news. Because what better to do with good news than share it with someone?

* * *

Kaiba Seto was not an altogether joyful person. He was a curt conversationalist, a ruthless businessman, a mean card player, and had a dislike for every single thing on Earth except maybe his younger brother, Kaiba Mokuba.

All this was not exactly a secret.

As such, with the giant scowl Seto was currently sporting, leaning back in his leather chair at the head of the conference table, most of his heads of offices were unconsciously shifting uneasily in their seats. It was only fifteen minutes into the meeting and already Kaiba looked unhappy with something. Rather, some_one_. The CEO's scowl had been developing ever since the initial reports of Shichi Corporation's progress had started to be read aloud.

Most of the managers and assorted higher-ups could sympathise with Kaiba's obvious dislike of the new developments; Shichi Corporation had been a recent take-over for Kaiba Corp. and thus far the gamble had not paid off. It was natural that there would be some loss with expansion; however it had been too long without payback and profit. Seto was beginning to get unsettled about it. He did not make bad business decisions. So why was the company losing money? The answer, if it did not lie with dwindling production or lack of demand, which in this case it did not, lay with the way the company was being handled. Bad management hurt an entire company. Kaiba had allowed the previous CEO of Shichi Corporation to remain to take care of business matters from that end after their pay out, with Kaiba's influence to keep the company on track of course. But it seemed now that this had been a foolish decision. He should have gotten rid of all higher management staff and input people he trusted, so to speak, to get the job done properly. Yes, he was sure the current failings of his empire's newest acquisition could be held responsible in their previous CEO's workings. He would definitely have to do something about this, and fast, having his own company's elite's instigate any doubt in his ability to work as CEO whatsoever would be devastating to his career. Any one of them, he was sure, would jump at the opportunity to promote themselves. So he had to shift blame to the appropriate party, quickly.

The Production Rep. sat down, and in the ensuing silence all eyes turned once again to their great and, rather unnerving sometimes, leader.

Kaiba cleared his throat; "Clearly there is a problem here," He always liked to get straight to the point, no sense in beating around the bush. "Shichi Corporation has not supplied the revenue it should have brought to Kaiba Corp. this quarter. I believe the problem lies with its management, namely, the lack of management from our company that it has been supplied with." He eloquently sidestepped the next logical sentence which was to admit that this was a failing on his part. Because, of course, it wasn't.

"I will therefore take it upon myself to handle this problem. I will investigate Nobita Matsuno's management methods and if I find that they are the cause of this loss of profit, as I suspect they are, I will take appropriate actions to rectify the problem."

He stared defiantly back at the rest of his employees, daring any of them to suggest the fault had been his, or that he would be unable to solve the problem and put their company back on top.

No one said anything, and Seto allowed himself to smile inwardly; so they still respected him after all. Thank God.


	2. Impressions

Disclaimer: Characters, worlds, people, games, and everything else is owned by and copyrighted to Kazuki Takahashi. This is a non-for-profit fan work with no particular personal gain in mind. I own the writing and nothing else.

* * *

The letter had asked Katsuya to call them and confirm that he would work for the trial period, and that he would start on Saturday morning. It was Thursday evening, and he'd called them as soon as it hit 9 that morning. Then, after he'd gotten home from college, he'd spent a considerable amount of time looking for the newspaper and advert he'd seen the job in. However it seemed he had already thrown it out in his dismissal of ever getting such a qualified job.

That day, Honda had joked about the fact that, with him working in a professional environment he'd need a suit, and it only just occurred to Katsuya, as he scourged through every known crevice in his apartment for the job description, that he didn't own anything remotely buisnessy. So just what was he going to wear on his first day!?

He paused, since when did he worry about clothes?

Since you need the money, his brain wisely reminded him.

Oh, right.

He sat back on his knees, as he'd been kneeling in his wardrobe, and contemplated his options. He could go and _buy_ some proper business-looking clothes, but that would require the money he didn't have and was hoping to get from said business venture. So that left option's b and c. Option b was go in whatever he had, which wasn't anything even slightly appropriate, he was sure, and option c was to go and beg Honda to borrow something. They were vaguely the same height… Well, he was closer to Honda's height than Yugi's in any case. So option c was looking pretty good in the end.

With a resigned sigh, knowing the incredible mocking he was going to receive upon asking for such help, he picked up his phone once again to call his best friend.

"Hello?" Honda's voice echoed through the receiver after a few rings.

Katsuya paused, then took a deep breath; "Honda, I need some clothes."

Seto tapped his pen on the desk irritably. He'd just finally sorted out his meeting with Nobita Matsuno, the current CEO of Shichi Corporation. Unfortunately after announcing that he would deal with the issue swiftly to his management team yesterday, he had not realized how busy his schedule was for the next few weeks. With the kind of meetings and appointments it would do more harm than good to post-pone or reschedule. (Whether or not Nobita's schedule was equally as busy was inconsequential; people made time for _him_, not the other way around.)

So the meeting was to be held in two weeks. Seto just hoped during that time this clearly incompetent Nobita could hold his new branch of industry together.

Suddenly his mobile rang, and he placed the pen down on the desk to reach into his pocket and answer it.

"Hello?"

"Nii-sama!" Mokuba's voice chirped happily back to him. And all of a sudden Seto calmed down a little, he stopped being so annoyed about the delay and leaned back in his chair in the sort of posture that would have appeared relaxed to the untrained eye. Even though Mokuba was a reminder that he had to keep his company afloat for not only his own sake but for the sake of his only relative (that he had any care for, at any rate), he was also a reminder of something constant. Kaiba Corp.'s stocks rose and fell, they invested in new business and sold off unprofitable junk, managers were fired and hired, but Mokuba was always slightly separated from all that, and he was always happy and smiling and never failed to be there for Seto when he needed him, and Seto strove to reciprocate this.

Like himself, Mokuba used to be a lot meaner and a lot more competitive. All those years ago when Kaiba had constructed the simulation 'Death-T' for Yugi and his friends, he had intended on taking the boy's life. And so had Mokuba. He had begged Seto for a chance to show Yugi up, to have a re-match with the teenager who had beaten him at his favourite game. Seto had allowed this, believing that his younger brother would fail. In the end Mokuba did lose to Yugi, but then Seto followed suit, and finally Yugi used ancient magic to destroy the evil in Seto's soul. This left Seto broken for a long while, although he recovered in time to save his younger brother from Pegasus. Many more things had happened since then, but it had been their twin defeats in their own tower that had started the change in both brothers.

Mokuba had changed the most, probably because he had been forced to watch his brother tear himself apart and come out defeated. He didn't want to thank Yugi openly for what he had done, but he did inside. It had been the hope that Mokuba needed to believe that things had a chance at going back to the way there were before that fateful chess game. And now he was happier, he was laughing all the time and annoying his brother and simply enjoying himself, whilst still maintaining his competitive spirit. He could even muster the infamous 'Kaiba Death Glare' if the need arose. Seto, on the other hand, was still as ruthless and seemingly uncaring as ever, however Mokuba knew that he had changed, even if most other people couldn't see it. And he thought that if Kaiba had more people he trusted in his life, he would be able to change even more. He could become more relaxed and friendly, closer to how he used to be.

Well, one thing at a time.

"Can we have take away for dinner? Please please? Since the cook is sick today and everything…" Seto knew that if Mokuba had been standing in front of him he would be giving him the biggest puppy-dog eyes he could muster.

"You interrupted me to ask me _that?_" Seto replied, sounding agitated, although Mokuba knew him well enough to know that he wasn't. He would even go so far as to assume his brother actually appreciated his phone calls, and that they were a good distraction from his normally enormous work load.

"Yes?" Mokuba replied, probably blinking innocently.

Seto made a show of sighing loudly, "If you must, I suppose. Although I won't be home for another hour, so you had better be studying during that time. We can eat then."

Seto could practically see the smile breaking across his little brother's face, "Thankyou Nii-sama!" He allowed himself his own small smile before hanging up the phone. If he had to wait to fire the inept CEO Nobita, so be it. No point in worrying about it any longer.

* * *

As expected, Honda had made the biggest show possible of taunting and paying Katsuya out about not having anything half-decent to wear to his first day of work. All in good humour, of course. Katsuya took it all in his stride, extremely grateful that Honda had anything to lend him and was willing to do it. He'd ended up wearing some black pants, which were slightly too big seeing as Katsuya had lost some weight lately owing to his new dietary habits (and if Honda had noticed this he thankfully did not mention anything), a blue shirt, and although it was suggested he out rightly refused to wear a tie. He wasn't sure if he'd cleaned up very well or not. To him, he still looked like the same disheveled misfit, only this time wearing slightly cleaner clothes.

He'd managed to take the two trains across town and even managed to find the right building. He'd walked in, gotten a clearly confused look from the receptionist, and eventually been sent up to the 8th floor. Now all he had to do was find the correct office, right?

What had Katsuya still a little edgy was that he wasn't exactly sure what the job entailed. He'd thrown away the job description and couldn't really remember what it said. He was pretty sure it was just some sort of filing job. Although to be honest he thought he'd be better at the kind of job that just had you running around trying to find the right coffee for people for hours on end. He'd only skrew up the entire system if they let him near a filing cabinet.

The elevator stopped on the eighth floor and as the doors opened with a loud 'ding', his stomach tightened involuntarily. Damned nerves. He took a moment to compose himself, however his calming mantra was interrupted by another slightly confused voice;

"Excuse me, can I _help_ you?" The woman was barely able to disguise her distaste at the sight of Katsuya, who, even with the help of Honda's 'formal' clothes, looked incredibly out of place.

Just how many receptionists did this place need anyway!? Katsuya thought, turning to face the woman behind the desk. She stared at him none-too-politely as she waited for his answer. Her dark eyebrows were furrowed and her mouth curved into a slight frown, her equally dark hair was pulled back away from her face and he was sure he'd never seen cleaner clothes. He wondered if they were brand new.

"I'm uh… uh, looking for Nobita Matsuno?" He stuttered, taking a few steps towards her.

She didn't even move, "Why do you want to talk to him? He's a very busy man." She clearly didn't want to let such a bedraggled being within two feet of her boss.

Katsuya was irked by her tone and the way she clearly disapproved of him, but although his temper could usually flare and erupt quickly, he knew that for this job at least he would have to try to keep it under control as best he could. The money was too important to him to be fired over simply losing his temper.

So he looked her squarely in the eye and said; "I'm his new assistant." Unfortunately, he couldn't be one hundred percent sure that this was true. The woman certainly looked like she didn't believe him.

To his luck, the reception desk's phone decided to pick that moment to ring. She narrowed her eyes even further then finally resigned to let him past, her boss could deal with him if he was lying after all.

"Down the hall on the end to the right," She pointed vaguely with one hand and picked up the receiver with the other.

He muttered his thanks, and started off in the direction she had pointed. The office seemed very… well, like an office he supposed. Katsuya had honestly not spent much time around them, and he'd certainly never worked in one before. Or really knew anyone who had. He did know that most offices consisted of lots of little cubicles people were confined to for long periods of time. Which, he supposed, is where people got the jail comparison. There were some of those here, but there seemed to be more offices and rooms with doors on them than he had imagined. Putting two and two together he realized that this must be the floor where the higher-ups worked. All of the people doing all the hard work in their tiny cubicles must be situated elsewhere.

Another thing Katsuya noticed was that it was very clean. Although, compared to his apartment, the sidewalk was clean. It was almost clinical, and it made him want to shudder, but he knew that was probably a stupid reaction. There was the odd pot plant and he noted a few copy machines and printers. One had a piece of paper sticky taped to it which had "out of order" printed in block letters against the white background.

Not everyone bothered to look at him as he walked by, but those who did definitely had a confused expression on their face. He figured that either no one but the usual staff generally came through here, or, like the receptionists, were simply confused that someone as clearly lower class than them was in their presence.

Walking down the hall he passed numerous doors, some with names on them, and finally reaching the end he remembered the receptionist's advice and turned right. He was faced with Nobita Matsuno's door.

He reached out a hand to turn the door knob then reconsidered and knocked. There was a pause in which his stomach decided to remind him that he was nervous, and finally a voice called "Come in."

Swallowing, he grasped the door knob and entered the office.

Having no experience with offices hitherto, he assumed it was big. Certainly it was bigger than the other office's he'd stolen glances into on his way past. Eyes taking it all in, they finally settled on the desk in front of him. He suppressed a gasp when he read the name plate, which announced to him that this man was the CEO of the entire company. No wonder his office was big, no wonder there were very few tiny cubicles outside, no wonder the receptionist didn't want to let him in…

"Can I help you?" The man, Nobita, asked pointedly, not uncaringly, but with enough distain to imply that Katsuya was disrupting the process of working.

"I.. oh!" Katsuya snapped back into focus. Make a good first impression, he reminded himself. Although, he'd probably already lost the opportunity for one of those.

"I'm Jonouchi Katsuya, I spoke to you on the phone on Thursday; you asked me to come in today…" He trailed off, leaving the rest to the other man to put together.

Recognition dawned on the older man's face, "Oh! Of course! Welcome to the office, nice to meet you." He got up from his seat and shook Katsuya's hand, while Katsuya returned the compliment. He felt himself relax a little.

"I'm glad you could make it," Nobita continued, walking back to his seat, although Katsuya thought his demeanor implied that he didn't really care, "Since this is your first day just try to relax and take it all in, get to know the place and find out the ropes."

It sounded rehearsed. His tone, Katsuya found, was kind of dull; this must have been all very routine for him.

Nobita Matsuno was an older man in his late forties, slightly portly and was losing his hair. When Katsuya had seen the acronym announcing his position on the man's name plate, another reminder image of Kaiba Seto had flashed to his mind. It was hard not to unconsciously compare the two, from his memories of Kaiba they were completely different men. This Nobita, although initially somewhat uninteresting, seemed like he would be a much nicer boss than Kaiba would be.

And Kaiba… He was just, well, pure evil…

Katsuya subconsciously skrewed up his face in a frown. Nobita paused in his monochromatic introduction to look questioningly at him for a moment then continued with his conclusion; "If you need any help with anything, most people will be happy to answer your questions. Although, a number of our staff do not work on the weekend so it is a little quieter around here."

Katsuya had been dutifully nodding when he considered appropriate and murmuring 'yes's' and 'uh-huh's' along the way, although in reality he felt like he'd just dived off a pier. His over-stepping brain immediately told him that this was too much for him and it was all too hard. He had to mentally slap himself to regain his focus.

Nobita wasn't saying anything anymore, so Katsuya decided to take a little initiative; "So, uh, where should I start?" He smiled widely to prove to this CEO (and to himself) that he was happy to do just that.

Nobita either didn't notice or couldn't be bothered returning the smile, "Very well, to start with get Sasaki to show you how the filing works, I'm going to need you to take care of some of these papers for me after lunch." He motioned briefly to the work spread out on his desk.

Katsuya almost gulped. "Uh.. Sasaki-san?"

Was he expected to know who this person was?

Nobita blinked, "The receptionist, as you came in…"

"Oh!" Damn, he'd have to work with _her_? But he bowed politely and muttered a respectful goodbye then exited the office once again.

This time he walked back down the hall slowly, not really desperate to get to the reception desk and find out how thrilled Sasaki would be to hear that she had to spend her morning helping show this new stunted employee around the office.

By the end of the day Katsuya had had so much new information thrown at him that he felt his head would explode with so many facts.

As a result he'd forgotten most of it already.

It was just so hard to keep up; one minute he was being shown how the printer settings worked, the next he was being lectured on the right order to file invoices, which pushed colour combinations and upside-down printer cartridges right out of his mind. It wasn't that he was dumb, but the way things were being explained to him made everything sound as individually important as the next thing and as a result all possible office facts were vying for a place inside his head that they hoped he would remember them in.

This is going to take awhile, he thought, there's no way anyone would get all this shit on the first day, right?

Feeling mentally drained, and extremely happy that the clock was reading five to five, he entered Nobita's office for, hopefully, the last time that day. It hadn't been an altogether bad experience, his brain tried to cheer him up, just a little overwhelming. It wasn't hard exactly, just a lot to take in all at once.

"Ah, Jonouchi, thanks for all your hard work today." Katsuya really hoped he meant that, "Would you mind just checking with Sasaki if there is any mail or anything for me to pick up before you leave for the end of the day?"

"No problem," Katsuya smiled, happy to hear that his days work was almost finished. He'd earnt money! Money! It had only just dawned on him that this was the case. He was thrilled.

Sasaki, now only slightly less appalled with him than her first impressions, rifled through what he took to be some sort of 'In-box', and eventually came out with a few letters and what appeared to be a long metal triangle. Katsuya accepted the items but threw her a questioning look when she placed the last one in his hands.

"Nobita-san's new desk plate." She explained without enthusiasm, re-seating herself and continuing to pack up her things for the end of the day.

Katsuya shrugged his thanks and headed back down the hall to deliver the letters. Curious as to why his boss would need a new name plate, he turned over the cool object and glanced at it.

And almost dropped it.

He had to stop moving just to re-read it and make sure he wasn't hallucinating. It still read: "Nobita Matsuno, CEO" but now printed next to all that, was the all-too-familiar logo of Kaiba Corp. Katsuya didn't realize he was gaping open-mouthed at the letters.

What the hell?

* * *

Thanks for reading! I don't know how this is going so far, what's your opinion? Is Kaiba too nice? ..mmm.. not sure... Please Review 


	3. Irritation

A/N: I have been asked what the title of this story actually means. No, its not some sort of spoiler or anything Whytney-chan, so don't worry. In hindsight I probably should have stated this in the first chapter, but at that point I was just worrying too much over what people would think of it to remember to translate Japanese. It means, simply, "part-time job". So yes, as I will shamefully be the first to admit, my skill in naming stories is obviously rather lacking. So, I just used the age-old fan girl trick and took an English word and, instead of actually using said perfectly good English word, I wrote the Japanese equivalent instead in effort to try to "jazz it up", and make it sound more interesting.

Did it work?

Disclaimer: Characters, worlds, people, games, and everything else is owned by and copyrighted Kazuki Takahashi. This is a non-for-profit fan work with no particular personal gain in mind. I own the writing and nothing else.

* * *

Nobita Matsuno had explained it all to him (in a kind of detached, uninterested sort of way anyway), about how Kaiba Corp. had bought Shichi Corporation a few months ago. They had been major shareholders for years now, and Nobita had mentioned, in a rare streak of contemplation, that he suspected Kaiba Corp. had been confronting a few of their other shareholders to sell out. A take over was inevitable, and in any case Shichi Corporation simply didn't the metaphorical back bone to say otherwise.

It was around this point where the conversation turned to stock profits and usage explanations that Katsuya began to get lost. By the end he had surmised all the important points however, and they all came down to one thing: Kaiba Seto was technically his boss now.

He had, with great difficulty, repressed the urge to scream.

It had taken him a long time to calm down about it, but now that it was Sunday and he hadn't been asked to work again that day, he'd decided to catch up with his friends, and that meant at some point he'd need to tell them how his first day had gone. Since they were all very eager to hear this information, that 'some point' had been fairly soon after they'd all sat down at the nearest fast food place and were happily digging in to various fatty, extremely unhealthy yet surprisingly delicious foods.

Their reaction had been quite… collective. They all chocked and then coughed and finally with clear air passages were able to laugh properly. Katsuya would probably have been laughing too, had he not been the butt of the joke. He could see Yugi and even Ryou trying to compose themselves, trying to sympathise instead of being entirely amused by the situation, but it clearly wasn't working.

It took them all awhile.

Finally, "Well," Honda started, his speech constantly interrupted by sniggers, "Good luck with that man." He gave him a little pat on the shoulder.

Katsuya groaned, "I think I should resign." He wasn't sure if he really felt that way or not.

The others chuckled, but Yugi looked shocked, "You can't do that Jou! You really wanted this job!" The word he actually said in his mind was 'needed', but Yugi didn't want to imply anything derogatory and he had way too much respect for Katsuya to mean it either. But Katsuya knew that he needed the job, he wouldn't really quit already, it was just hard to accept that he was technically working for a man who had belittled him so much and made his life hell a number of years ago.

"Yeah, I don't think I will, Yug', I was just kidding!" He flashed his friend the cheesiest smile he could manage.

"Besides, you're not actually working for Kaiba personally, are you?" Ryou pointed out, picking up a chip and popping it into his mouth. "You're working for this other Nobita guy, and it doesn't sound like Kaiba has much to do with this place. His office is probably in the Kaiba Corp. building on the other side of town. So just try to imagine their business has nothing to do with Kaiba's business, because you're not likely to bump into him anyway."

At this, Katsuya brightened, "Hey, I hadn't thought of that!" He flashed Ryou an appreciative smile.

Honda looked thoughtful, contemplating which item of food he was going to consume next, "But what if Kaiba see's Jou's name on the employee list or something?"

Katsuya's face fell.

"That's stupid Honda!" Anzu poked him agitatedly, "Why would Kaiba bother to look over a list of his employees? Besides, he must have over a million of them!"

That was probably an exaggeration.

Especially seeing as so much production was automated by machines these days.

Katsuya's face lit up again.

"Well what if he comes to the office for an inspection or something?" Honda countered again.

Katsuya's face fell.

"Why would he do that? Besides, even if he did he probably only does that kind of thing maybe once a year, and Jou so far only works on Saturdays and its more likely that Kaiba would inspect an office when everyone is working there which _wouldn't_ be a Saturday, it would be a week day."

Anzu crossed her arms and sat back in her chair looking distinctly satisfied with her argument. She non-verbally challenged Honda to throw something else at her.

Katsuya was sick of his face twitching every time his hope was inspired or extinguished, so he decided to surmise the conversation into thus: the likelihood of Kaiba ever finding out he worked there was very slim, so he could just put it out of his mind, and deal with it when or if it ever happened.

With that joyless, yet resolute, thought in mind, he renewed his meal with more enthusiasm and with more appetite than he'd had in two days.

* * *

The office workplace was a mine field of objects and practices that could potentially piss you off. There was the broken fax machine, the printer out of ink, the lack of readily available stationary, the toilet door with the broken lock, the plant wilting all over your papers, and the fact that someone else had already solved the crossword.

But then there were also the people.

There was the woman who always spoke too loudly on her mobile phone, as if she was in the middle of a crowded train station rather than a small break room with a population of three. There was the man with the cold who kept sniffing, the man who kept reminding you the coffee machine was broken, the woman who sent spam emails around the office that really weren't funny, and the woman who sent spam of her baby photos. There was the old man in the corner that had been here so long no one knew who he was anymore, the sleazy guy who hit on anything that moved, the man who never seemed to be doing any actual work, and the people who were just altogether too enthusiastic.

Seto came in contact with all of these things daily. Thankfully, being the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company was not without its perks; he only had to be annoyed by these things for a minimal amount of time per day, as he could usually escape the mundane stupidity by holing himself away in his own, rather large, office. He felt some pity for those lowly peasants who had to work in their tiny cubicles facing the above-mentioned strife on a regular basis.

Well, almost.

Seto didn't really _do_ pity.

You got your own self off the floor or you stayed down there.

Although he normally had the pleasure of blocking out most of office life and thus its little annoyances, lately it had been creeping into his office constantly. It took the form of his new personal assistant, Niita.

Seto had gone through a number of personal assistants in his time working as CEO. Some of them had simply moved on to further their career in other directions, however he'd had one who had quit on the grounds that he was 'unbearably cold'. His previous assistant had needed to go on maternity leave (which had absolutely nothing to do with him, she was married, although there was no extent of rumors flying around that people thought he didn't know about), and that meant he'd needed to get someone in on short notice. Niita, otherwise, would not have been his first choice.

She was straight out of college, with a degree that qualified her to be a teacher, as opposed to a thankless filling clerk. He wasn't actually sure why she'd applied for the job, but he guessed that she had been unable to find work in her profession of interest.

But it wasn't the inexperience that bothered him, people could learn if they were forced to, if anything her experience in learning to teach actually irked him further. Niita felt the need to prove her teaching skills at any opportunity. She had even, at one point, after Mokuba had come into the office to ask about a new gaming station, tried to explain to him the way his little brother's development process worked. She had gone so far as to suggest that Mokuba needed more 'nurturing', before Seto had firmly told her he had work to get on with.

She was just aggravating; she chatted loudly on the work phone outside his door, and sometimes because of this didn't take incoming calls. She poked her head in the door at least every 30 minutes just to check everything was okay. It would have been an almost-sweet gesture had Seto not been the kind of man who hated it when people interrupted him when he was right in the middle of something. If it wasn't important he didn't want to be bothered with it. And telling him that a new shipment of paper clips had arrived to the office was _not_ important.

Most of all, however, things never seemed to get done on time when entrusted to Niita. He would ask her to find a file for him, and three hours later he would go to her again and ask for it, having been confused at not seeing it so far, only to hear her respond; "What file?" and give him a blinking stare that could usually be comparable to a dying fish. Files would turn up in the wrong place, his coffee was _always_ too weak, she would misdirect calls to other offices and on numerous occasions his lunch had mysteriously disappeared.

Seto sighed, Monday morning ten a.m. and she'd already managed to annoy him on three separate occasions. The bad thing was she wasn't even aware she was doing it. It was just how she was, her personality. He assumed anyway. He'd asked for the Shichi Corporation Stock Report over an hour ago, and whilst he had been busying himself with other work during that time it was now finished, and there was no new Stock Report on his desk to go over in the time before lunch.

He'd been noticing an unusual smell emanating from the next room for a few minutes now. That was as good excuse as any to get up from his desk and check on the Stock Report.

He opened the door to his office and strode outside, and as soon as he did the smell seemed to amplify itself at least twenty times. It smelt like someone had decided it would be a wonderful idea to mix alcohol and paint. It was so strong it was almost over powering; he was sure the whole level must have been smelling of something similar by now. And the closer he got to where Niita was sitting, the stronger the stench became.

Finally he came to a stop, looming above her and at last able to discern the source of the nasal bombardment.

She looked up at him and smiled, holding out one long hand and waving her bright red fingernails around; "Third coat!" She chirped happily.

His eye twitched.

It took all of his self-control not to pick her up by her collar and throw her out of the nearest window. He took a deep breath and said slowly and as steadily as he could manage; "Where. Is. My. Report?"

"Oh! Your report, yes… it's here. Somewhere." She began looking through the stack of papers on her desk, although it was tough-going seeing as she was very cautious not to disturb her newly polished nails.

"It's under your nail polish." He stated.

It was.

She gasped, "Ah! I knew I put it somewhere I could remember!" She extracted it, careful not to spill red all over it, and handed it to him.

Niita was not a natural blonde, but perhaps the bleach in her hair was starting to effect her brain, Seto decided.

"Any particular reason why you didn't bring this in to me?" Seto growled, his voice almost dangerous. Most people would have picked up on that tone, the one that warned them that what they said next could very well decide whether they lived or were thrown screaming into a tank full of starving lobsters. It was a threatening tone, but Niita was a teacher, and she was trained not to take those kinds of tones from anyone.

Or, perhaps, she just didn't know any better.

"I didn't want to disturb you. You said you hate it when people disturb you."

"Niita, I asked you to find me a document, it is not interrupting when I have asked that you come and see me." He seemed to be struggling to explain the simplistics of this. It was too much, he needed an assistant that could at least discern the fact that if he said he wanted something he wasn't lying.

She apologized, then, and asked; "Is there anything else you need?" She was less chipper now, and he could hear the slightly regretful tone in her voice. She'd even put the top on the nail polish and was putting it away in her handbag.

"No." He replied, turning straight around and back into his office. He noted that the smell hadn't seemed to dissipate at all.

Seto spent the rest of the morning trying to come up with a legitimate excuse to fire her.

* * *

They didn't play Duel Monsters as much these days. College and the fact that their little group of friends didn't see each other on a daily basis anymore contributed to this. In fact, Katsuya really strained to picture the last time all of them had been in the same room together (that was, including all of their new friends they had picked up along their journeys like Otogi, and Shizuka). Tonight, Sugoroku was making a full dinner sized bentou, and as a result both Katsuya and Anzu had politely offered to walk Yugi home. Honda had explained to them with great reluctance that he needed to help out his family that night and as he was leaving had whispered; "Eat my share" to Katsuya.

Sugoruku's cooking was always delicious, he was quite an accomplished chef compared to Katsuya who had only recently mastered the art of boiling water. So after dinner, when everyone had eaten as much as their stomachs could hold and were all feeling quite content and sleepy, they had gotten out their cards to play a few games.

Anzu, who had always been somewhat less impressed with card games (although would always support her friends from the sidelines whenever she could) resigned after a few rounds, and left Katsuya to duel Yugi. And then Yami.

Due to his pre-occupation with recent enlightenments at his new job, Katsuya had spent the entire night sleeping very little and worrying very much; so although in all likelihood Katsuya would have lost to the Pharaoh anyway, by this time of night he was losing spectacularly.

"Are you alright?" Yami asked, as Katsuya's head dropped to his chest and a few moments later he suddenly sprang up again.

"Uh.. yes? … Why?"

"It's just that you're yawning every three seconds, your eyes keep glazing over, your chin keeps hitting the front of your shirt as you power nap, and there are rings under your eyes as dark as the basement when the globe breaks."

"Ah… You put that very succinctly."

Yami smirked.

"Aww…" Katsuya stretched, then eyed the sheet of paper they'd been using for a scoreboard. He was losing by 7350 life points. The likelihood of him making a dramatic comeback was comparable to the likelihood of walking out in the middle of monsoon season and remaining dry.

With a sigh he picked up the pen and crossed out his remaining life points and wrote a large "0".

"Okay I lose, thoroughly and officially. I think I need to go home and sleep."

There was a chorus of agreement as Katsuya slowly stood up, stretching and yawning at his full height. Just then his mobile rang. Puzzled, he threw it a confused look before flipping it open and questioning the caller.

A voice he didn't recognize replied to him.

"Uh.. who is this?"

There was a pause while the person may have been annoyed at the question, but it was a little hard to tell; "This is Nobita Matsuno, from Shichi Corporation. I want you to come into work tomorrow afternoon, is that okay?"

Katsuya blinked, looking quite dumb, before he checked his mental timetable.

"Yes, I can work tomorrow." He replied, putting as much information into the sentence as possible so that his friends could understand what the phone call was about. They exchanged happy glances while the man on the other end of the phone spoke a little more then obviously hung up.

Katsuya closed his phone and pocketed it. He managed a grin.

"Oh that's great Jou-kun!" Anzu cried, smiling broadly.

"Yep. They obviously want to keep you there if they're calling you back to work already." Yami pointed out.

"Yeah, he said something about trialing someone else on Sunday or something… I dunno I'm not quite sure, heh." Katsuya gave a sheepish grin.

"Oh well," Sugoroku chuckled, "Have a great day at work tomorrow!"

"Do your best!"

"Work hard!"

No one wanted to add: "And we hope Kaiba doesn't show up."

They chorused their goodbyes as Katsuya walked to the front door, Yami indicated that Yugi was bidding him farewell also.

Katsuya smiled and closed the door, making his to the train station; he was already beginning to forget that the company he worked for was under the thumb of his most hated rival.

* * *

Yes I know you probably all hate me for using what is mainly filler for this chapter, but plot points needed to be made! To try to console you, I'll let you know that the next chapter is almost finished and I will definitely be posting (unless something unforeseen happens) within the next few days once I finish it off. And, they _will_ meet in it finally, I promise. (I can not promise, however, that they will enjoy this XD) See you next time! 


	4. Meeting

Disclaimer: Characters, worlds, people, games, and everything else is owned by and copyrighted Kazuki Takahashi. This is a non-for-profit fan work with no particular personal gain in mind. I own the writing and nothing else.

* * *

Kaiba Seto's love life was extremely important to every other person in the world but himself. Since graduating high school and moving full-time into the corporate work force, the paparazzi felt the need to press the issue more firmly. Being a high schooler, although love and dating was an apparent issue, it was an issue that had its own unspoken limitations when published in printed media. Now that the city's richest person was no longer a boy but a man, his love life could be much more openly discussed and publicized. There was always a rumor going around; one day he was said to be with one woman, the next it was heard to be someone completely different. One trashy magazine had even gone so far as to suggest that the _lack_ of public girlfriend could only mean one other thing.

However as far as Seto was concerned, he wasn't gay, he was just utterly uninterested in a relationship at the moment. _Any_ relationship. But it seemed that everyone else on the planet felt the opposite, he had even started having discreet calls from organizations trying to recruit him - and that was why personal assistants were handy; they told dating agencies to bugger off.

Niita, however, thought they were sweet, and put them right through to Kaiba's phone.

He wanted to storm out of his office and shout "This is the last straw!" whilst pointing his finger at her threateningly. However Seto was not without his cinematic side and knew that this would put years of effort on the part of soap operas to shame.

Instead he swiftly, but politely, told the dating agency "for the third time no" and hung up the phone.

Taking a deep, hopefully calming, breath for what felt like the hundredth time that day, he once again got up from his chair and stalked out of his office.

Niita was typing something on her personal computer. She didn't even look up as he approached.

"Niita I told you not to let those media calls through to my office anymore." It was a statement, a reminder of a conversation he'd had with her about fifty times. Besides, _he_ contacted the media, not the other way around. Hell, he owned shares in most of their stocks; almost every newspaper, magazine, talk show and current affairs program in the district equivalently owed him a favour. If he ever needed a political affair or business deal to go his way, he knew he had access to limitless media sources. But he also knew they still had their public to be accountable to, and he knew, grudgingly, that people all around the city wanted to know what was going on in his life all the time.

The smug part of his brain reminded him that this was hardly surprising.

Seto noticed Niita's nostrils flare, "Have you ever considered that perhaps you _should _be taking calls from such places?"

Seto would have gaped had he been a lesser man. She even had the audacity to raise an eyebrow at him in the kind of tone that said; "Don't even question me I'm right."

Nobody got to be right except for him!

That and, you know, she _wasn't, _he reminded himself.

"Niita, you _work_ for me, the least you could do is respect what I ask of you. In fact, that's your _job_!"

She was clearly as ticked off at him as he was at her; "Well maybe I don't want to work for a man who speaks so rudely to his employees!"

He felt like all his Christmas's had come at once.

With a little too much enthusiasm (although, compared to most other human life forms this was to be viewed as: little to none at all) he signed resignedly and said; "Well, if that's the way you feel…"

She looked curiously at him and suddenly stood up, huffed, and walked out in the direction of the break room.

Not the exit, he noted, but the break room. Damn.

Miso soup, although a favourite _snack_ for most Japanese, was an especially favourite _meal_ for the poor struggling student population. It was cheap, and easy to make. The instructions "Just add water!" had never been more literal. And it came in so many different varieties! They could come in packets and the packets could come in bulk, bulk buying meant less money spent on food which in turn meant a happier unpaid university student.

One could, of course, make their own miso soup from scratch (as one could with almost any microwavable dish) if only one had the effort. And the chopping and boiling and ingredient adjusting skills to go with it. In Katsuya's case, if he was let near a chopping board he was likely to come out amputated.

He sipped the soup from a cup consideringly. Hmm… it wasn't bad, he'd have to buy this brand again.

He was feeling oddly relaxed. That morning he'd gotten his first payment from work into his bank account, which had been gathering dust for quite a long time before that. Most of it he'd had to give straight to his landlord, so he was essentially still broke, but that didn't really bother him. He had a roof over his head for another month, that was all that mattered. The other reason for his contentment was that he had just finished talking to his sister, Shizuka. She still lived with his mother in another city, so he didn't get to see her all that often, which just made the times when she called him or he found the time to give her a ring that much more important to him. She was always cheerful and always sounded like she really wanted to speak to him too. It wasn't that they were without the normal and almost granted bickering of a typical brother/sister relationship, but because they practically never saw each other, when they had grown up as kids so close, it made them miss each other enough to put aside any differences they might have and simply enjoy the conversations they managed to get.

So all that, coupled with the warmth the hot soup was spreading all over his body, was making the blonde boy pretty relaxed. He slouched down into the couch and turned on the television.

And suddenly wasn't so contented anymore.

Just his luck the last station he had been watching was having their hourly news update. Kaiba had apparently been considered important again. The only reason Katsuya didn't immediately change to a different channel was that he suddenly heard the name of the company he worked for. He quickly began to pay a lot more attention to what was going on.

The footage had obviously been shot earlier today, as on screen it was sunny but outside his window it was pitch black. Kaiba could be seen on the steps of his office building, trying to make an exit. It was hard to really get a look at him however, as a whole crowd of reporters had swarmed him and were doing their best to stop him getting into his limousine.

He probably enjoys the attention, Katsuya thought with a scowl. Stupid git.

"Kaiba-san! Kaiba-san!" The voice of one reporter was amplified by the stations microphone she was holding, "Is it true you will be downsizing Shichi Corporation? Will you be getting rid of their executives? Are you seriously considering selling off their companies stock to account for the downfall this season? What of Nobita Matsuno?"

She spoke extremely quickly; it was hard to keep up with what she was saying. Katsuya could imagine it was a lot harder for Kaiba, who had to try to listen to relatively the same questions spoken at the same pace from ten different people suffocating him.

The CEO had clearly been trying to ignore them all, but when he finally reached the open door of his waiting car, he turned around. "No comment." He announced without expression, then disappeared inside the vehicle.

Katsuya stared as the television announcer concluded her report and passed the metaphorical mike back to the news reader. There followed an article about some sort of political dribble, and then the yen balance and certainly by that time Katsuya was no longer paying any sort of attention.

Was Shichi Corporation in trouble? He knew reporters, on principle, always blew everything out of proportion; but a story was not a story without a basis in fact, on which to exaggerate.

He turned off the television and got up, having since finished his soup and looking now to get some kind of drink. He walked absent-mindedly towards his fridge, his thoughts miles away and back at the office.

* * *

Much to Seto's displeasure, Niita was yet to come through with her threat of quitting. He wondered whether there was any kind of mind control device that he could use to get her to hand in her resignation. He knew, of course, there was, but he doubted very much whether they were selling Millennium Rods on the street these days. Maybe he'd have someone look into that…

With gratitude it finally approached 2:00, and that meant it was time to leave to head across town to have his meeting with Nobita Matsuno, head of Shichi Corporation.

With any luck he'd be able to fire someone else today, even if he would be disappointed it wasn't Niita.

During the car ride over there Seto pondered briefly how information had leaked out about his short fallings with Shichi Corporation resulting in his encounter with the press the previous afternoon. He was somewhat used to attracting reporters these days, their rise in proof of their inane abilities to claw at you constantly until you paid them attention he could attribute to his finally graduating high school and throwing himself fully into the business side of his life. Once or twice had he considered whether or not he should be pursuing a university degree, but he knew that he was twice as smart as most of those other college idiots without trying. And he already had a future ahead of him, he didn't need to get a degree to start work from the bottom and climb the corporate ladder, because he was already on the highest rung. No, scratch that, he was already at the top of the cliff looking down over all the other losers desperately trying to find a foothold.

But it wasn't that he was completely unsympathetic to the masses, aspiration was important after all. So from time to time he could imagine himself reaching out and lending a hand to further someone else higher up the cliff face.

No, that wasn't right either; he usually ordered someone else to do that.

In any case, the business world was a potentially ruthless place, and you were more likely to have your ladder pushed over then to have it fastened securely at the top.

Which brought him right back to his take over of Shichi Corporation. More specifically, to speculating just what information the media had at the moment and how it had gotten there. It was not uncommon for this to happen. In fact, it _always_ happened, it was just a matter of how soon. That was why Seto had to be a quick thinker. With any major decision it was always simply a matter of time before reporters began to ask questions about his company's future, so he had to have it all planned out, written down, signed and sealed before so much as a weather man could predict a sunny outlook.

That was why it was mildly irritating that the news teams were speculating that he was going to fire Nobita before he actually got a chance to do it. Normally he acted, and they reflected, not the other way around. Oh well, can't change the past, he reminded himself, although he also wondered whether or not he should hire a crack team of scientists to start researching into it.

It was a Thursday, and that meant there were still a number of people milling around the office when Seto arrived. From the reactions of most people, they hadn't been informed that he was coming. The receptionist seemed a little flustered when he greeted her in his usual, short, fashion. He was quite used to this by now however, and he indicated that his security guard could wait in the area. She said that he should follow her, although he remembered coming to this office once or twice before, and she led him past the whispering and staring employees. Most of them were doing an entirely unspectacular job at trying to hide the fact that they were doing so. He mentally rolled his eyes. Imbeciles.

She bowed low and politely as she finally stopped walking and indicated which office he should go into. As if it wasn't obvious enough already with the gigantic type of Nobita's name on the front of the door.

He muttered his thanks not really looking at her, then walked straight into the other CEO's office.

Nobita glanced up, slightly shocked, even though he had been expecting Seto. He almost fell over in his haste to stand. It was all he could do to keep himself from running over to Kaiba and bowing low, then shaking his hand profusely.

They exchanged greetings then the elder man indicated that Seto should take a seat. He eventually re-seated himself as well, then finally glanced up at his superior, all his worry evident on his aging features.

In contrast, Seto's face was completely blank. Showing nothing and hiding everything; although, people speculated, Seto didn't have anything to hide. There were, at any given time, no end to the emotionless zombie rumours.

Seto hated chit chat, he felt it wasted time and delayed the inevitable, so he sped directly to the point; "I can tell from your manner that you must have watched the news last night?" He watched the other man nod, however apprehensively, in acknowledgment. "Let me assure you that not all of it is true. That a problem has arisen concerning your company _is_ true however, and that is where this meeting comes in…"

* * *

Katsuya and his work schedule had seemed to settle into some sort of routine over the last two weeks. If you could call two weeks long enough time to form a routine that is. He worked Saturdays, and Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, once college for him had finished for the day. He had to admit he preferred the Saturday shifts; it was a lot less busy, which meant that there weren't as many people around to scowl at him or tell him he wasn't doing his job properly, and it was a lot quieter so he could concentrate on what he was doing without having to check 8 times he'd put the folders in the right alphabetical order in the filing cabinet. He just kept wanting to tell himself that J came before I and N came before M and, well, it was a vicious cycle…

He had been happy when, two days ago, Nobita had told him and that he had gotten the job – permanently that is. Katsuya had not forgotten that he was meant to be on a sort of probationary period, and that they were supposedly trying out other people at the same time. Nobita had actually confessed that while this _was_ the case, the other two potential's they had tried had both been highly ill-fitted for the job. One had been unable to locate the toilets but had refused to ask for directions and so spent nearly an hour walking back and forth through the office aimlessly before Sasaki had finally gotten so irritated that she actually left her workstation to go and rectify whatever problem the newbie had. The other had explained with great sincerity that it was impetuous for her to call her house every fifteen minutes to make sure Pita was okay. Nobita had been slightly puzzled about this before the assistant had eagerly explained that Pita was her cat.

"Oh." Was about all he could manage.

Although his competitive spirit was slightly dejected to hear that he had, essentially, 'won by default', Katsuya was still more than happy that his job security had been confirmed. That is, unless the news report he'd seen held any truth whatsoever. But he knew that even if it did it was completely out of his hands, so he didn't try to dwell on it.

Since this time, many of the other office staff had begun to look upon Katsuya as an assistant not exclusive to Nobita himself. That was, he found himself carrying out other various odd jobs around the place rather than just the filling and some form work he was used to. It was not like they got him to install new light fittings or fix kitchen sinks or anything, it was more little things like delivering a notice to a different floor or going out to grab coffee's for at least 10 separate people.

Right now he was in the middle of re-stocking the printer which was apparently out of paper. Again. He finally finished and shut the tray closed, when a man walked past him murmuring something. The printer was no where near the elevators which one could argue was where the entrance to the office was. So he hadn't really noticed the change in atmosphere and mutterings that had been going on when an important person had strode down the hall before. Although the general office staff had had time to settle down, the man walking past still glanced over his shoulder and continued in his seemingly random mutterings as he past Katsuya without much interest and then disappeared into his own office. Brushing it off as a fairly normal case of 'office-madness', Katsuya wondered what else he still had to do. He had been on his way to deliver a stack of reports from marketing to Nobita before he had been accosted with three large bundles of printer paper and assigned the job of putting them in suitable location. Nobita was a fairly understanding guy, Katsuya had found, and usually didn't worry if he wasn't back immediately with whatever he had needed. He was well aware that Katsuya was becoming just as much a general office assistant as his own.

Passing along back down the hall he found more heads than usual turned at the sound of someone approaching. Most of their expressions turned to disappointment when they realized who it was however. It's almost as if they're expecting someone else, Katsuya pondered.

Finally reaching his boss's office, he shifted the weight of the marketing banter onto one arm, then used his free hand to open the door.

For all his good intentions, Katsuya froze in the doorway. His hand dropped very slowly from the handle and down to his side, his eye's not leaving the sight in front of him. He thought his mouth might have been gaping, he knew at least that his eyes were probably the size of saucers. But he couldn't help staring, since he had not been ready for Kaiba to suddenly appear.

Katsuya would make one observative reflection later on; that, in all honestly, he really shouldn't have been surprised. He _knew_ this company was owned by Kaiba Corp., his friends had even suggested that Kaiba might come in for an inspection or whatever. But, he argued with himself, it was entirely different from just talking about someone or knowing that they existed in the same company, to actually seeing them right there in front of you in the flesh.

So, really, he had all reason to be shocked.

One's memories of another can sometimes be quite concrete. We get a certain image of someone stuck into our brain, and it feeds our perception for as long as it is left untouched. Perhaps that was another reason why Katsuya was so shocked to see him; Kaiba looked different. He looked older, possibly taller, more business-like than Katsuya had ever seen him, and perhaps even more mature. That was his _appearance_ in any case, his face, and his demeanor however, were telling a different story. He looked as cold as ever, staring at the other CEO quite chillingly. Katsuya wondered, in a very detached kind of way (so much that the thought was gone before it could even ground itself) whether or not this was actually true. His eyes still seemed uncaring and his arms were crossed across his chest in a defiant, superior pose. But… Katsuya couldn't quite shake off the fact that on the whole he looked different from the last time he had seen him. (which was, really, quite a long time ago). He looked… better.

Better?

Yeah, he needed to stop that train of thought before it took him into a confusing place. So, he decided to get off at the next station and walk.

Unfortunately in the physical sense, this caused his brain to shut down and he was left with only the ability to gape at the fact that the last person on Earth he had even the slightest inclination to see again was now sitting right in front of him.

Katsuya had not exactly been quiet in entering the room. Granted it would have been a hard task to sneak through the door anyway, since Nobita's desk faced it, but he hadn't expected there to be a meeting on so he had just barged right in. Despite the fact that his moment of thought had seemed to take forever, in reality both men turned at the interruption straight away.

Katsuya felt himself go slightly red; all of a sudden he was embarrassed by his position. He had been so caught up in being angry about the fact that he worked for Kaiba, he hadn't gotten around to considering that Kaiba would probably think it was hilarious that the 'mutt' was finally proven to be so much lower than himself. He felt degraded and Kaiba hadn't even said anything yet.

Nobita, although completely unaware that the two boys had any prior relationship with each other, was not an idiot. He could tell that as soon as Jonouchi had walked in, the atmosphere had changed. He even noticed that Kaiba's usually cool demeanor had broken for a moment as he realized who was standing in his doorway. Then his slightly shocked expression had changed to an even deeper scowl than normal. He blinked. What was going on?

Seto was a fast thinker, usually able to walk into a room and assess the situation entirely and choose his next course of action in under a second. And he was doing that right now. Although his mind wanted to spend a lot longer ogling at the new development, he also realized that half of himself wanted to react by way of his usual insults and, if it came to it, beating the crap out of the shorter annoying blonde. However his smarter half realized that this was a professional environment, and as such he should treat the situation in a purely professional manner.

He ignored him.

"I believe our discussion was nearing its conclusion." Seto stood up to emphasize the point, "Thankyou Nobita and someone from our department will be speaking to you again shortly, have no doubt." He had already offered his hand and the somewhat perplexed Nobita who was still looking from the new expression on Katsuya's face to Kaiba's sudden reaction to high tail it, took the CEO's hand automatically and shook it. That done, he spun around and exited the room without another word.

* * *

Seto usually didn't spend a laborious amount of time going over his decisions in his mind after they'd already been made. There was no point in second-guessing things, as they could no longer be changed. However now that he was safely out of the building and back in his limousine he inadvertently found his thoughts drifting back to the confrontation, if indeed it was even worthy of such a title, which he suspected it wasn't, back in Nobita's office. Certainly he felt he'd handled the situation in the most professional way possible. Seto made a noise that sounded like "tch", while his face was still in a scowl and his arms crossed, staring intently at whatever was outside his window, however his mind was still miles away.

He just hadn't felt that anything had needed to be said. Certainly Jonouchi's appearance had raised many questions, but the answers were all fairly obvious anyway. He was probably working there, a clerk or an assistant or something, as the files he was holding were probably intended on being delivered to Nobita. Clearly he hadn't counted on

Seto being there however, as he looked as shocked as Seto had felt at suddenly being face to face with this old enemy again.

Seto found that it wasn't as amusing as it should have been. Certainly part of his brain shrieked that 'wasn't it pathetic that a loser like him ended up working for someone as successful as you?' It really just proved how much more superior he was to Jonouchi, as he'd been telling him for so many years. He couldn't beat him at Duel Monsters and he certainly would never beat him in the corporate world. But perhaps, another part of him suggested, that's not what he wants anyway? The boy had certainly never seemed the type to willingly take an office job, so perhaps he just needs the money?

Seto snorted, yeah, now that he thought about it, that was almost definitely the case.

But the main reason he found himself not as worked up about this as he perhaps should have been, was that he had now spent so much time in the corporate world, he understood that some people worked at different levels of the ladder, and that was just what they did. He found he just didn't really care enough to criticize entirely Jonouchi's decision; it had been so long since he'd seen any of those babbling, game-playing, yami-worshiping idiots that he suspected they all must have at least moved on with their lives even a little. And that Jonouchi had moved onto where he was did not really concern him anyway, certainly he didn't _care_ that he had just seen him for the first time in years.

But if that was the case, the part of himself that he didn't like listening to because it was usually right and contained feelings said to him, why are you still thinking about it?

Katsuya had finally finished for the afternoon, probably leaving a little earlier than he should have, and he spared no haste in getting out of the building. As soon as he was as far away as he felt necessary he pulled out his mobile phone.

"So much for never bumping into him!" He practically shrieked as the other line picked up. A few nearby birds flew away in shock.

With vague detachment he considered that he sounded rather like a whiney housewife, annoyed that the plumber had arrived two hours too early.

It took Honda a moment to work out just what the heck Katsuya was talking about. Then it hit him.

"Oh God, what happened? Did you draw blood? …You didn't kill him, did you?" His last question was said with a tone that implied he was more curious to find out than actually concerned that the answer might be 'yes'.

"No, no," Katsuya muttered, thinking that it would have been a great idea however. Then another though struck him, "And he ignored me!"

"What?"

"Nevermind."

"Well, just remember Jou, he's not your immediate boss. Even if he does come in for inspections or whatever from time to time, you can just avoid him for those five minutes then get on with your work."

Honda was talking very quickly and trying to be consoling, and Katsuya let it work. At least for appearance sake. "Yeah, I know, thanks." He hung up, feeling only slightly better than he had just moments ago. Honda hadn't really helped, and he knew if he called Yugi next he would probably just say the same thing. They were right, of course, but that didn't make the situation any better.

And one thing still bugged Katsuya; the way Nobita had looked so pale and detached when he'd seen him in his office, right after his meeting with Kaiba. A sudden thought struck him; what if the news report had been accurate? What if they really were downsizing Shichi Corporation? He had a pretty much useless role, they'd probably get rid of him, right?

Katsuya had done so much worrying over the last month or so he was beginning to feel exhausted. With a heavy sigh he boarded the first train that would take him home again. Just for once, he would really love some good news.

* * *

Okay so I know, their first meeting was entirely too anticlimactic, right? (Right?) But what I wanted to emphasize was the fact that they had matured enough not to see each other and scream profanities and throw punches immediately without comment anymore. Remember, in this story, they are a little older than in the anime/manga, so we need to give them some credit, ne?

-ducks-

Yeah, okay. Anyhoo, I promise they'll do more actual interacting and talkingyness next time. …Look at me, I'm so worried about this chapter I'm making up words…

Anyway, I love getting feedback, it helps me think better on how I'm going to write the next installment. I want to know your honest thoughts, so share them with me. See you next time!


	5. Discovery

A/N: Uh.. a few different things to rant about this week, so I will number them for you because I am nice:

1. biatchfromhell mentioned in her review some questions that 'would' be answered in this next chapter. I know she was just kidding but she inspired me to add what has ended up being a two page long rant about cup noodles somewhere in here. Please don't hurt me.  
2. It has come to my attention that has not been transferring my formatting properly. That is, my paragraph breaks. So this time I've tried to go through and make sure it reads properly. And no, since I've already uploaded the 'documents', I won't be going back and changing the other chapters. I think I'd have to repost them.  
3. I am a little busy at the moment, being in the middle of last-minute major-essay-writing season at uni, so another update might be a while. HOWEVER.. just look how long this chapter is! I hope it will make up for the fact that I need to prioritize life a bit more for a little while, and only get to write for a few minutes here and there in between.  
4. You probably didn't notice, but I upped the rating for this fic because I wasn't sure how picky is about swearing. Because, you know, I decided to add a bit of swearing towards the end of this chapter since I just felt it appropriate to the scene.

Geeez… listen to me, I sound like I have any idea what the heck I'm talking about. I don't, seriously. I make it through each chapter being in state of awe that people actually think this is worth continuing.

I love you guys, seriously.

Disclaimer: Characters, worlds, people, games, and everything else is owned by and copyrighted Kazuki Takahashi. This is a non-for-profit fan work with no particular personal gain in mind. I own the writing and nothing else.

* * *

Seto was a strategist. He knew how to plan. 

Coincidently, this made him really good at real time and turn based strategy games. That is, the kinds of games where one creates an army of soldiers and then takes them out into battle and crushes another fortress and defending army of serfs in a gallant and yet brutal show of force and technique. This is usually done in a bid for power and expansion of one's own empire, so in these kinds of games, one can not be satisfied with one's initial provinces. Was William the Conquerer satisfied with Normandy? No! He needed to take over England too. It's the same with any game of similar attitude – make an army to conquer a province to make more money for you to build a bigger army to conquer a bigger province for you to make even _more_ money to build an even _bigger _army to conquer an even _bigger _province to…

Well, the idea was easy enough to follow. The point, however, was that all of this took a certain amount of skill and thought. Hitler didn't just wake up one morning, go to his military advisor and say; "You what's a fun thing? Territorial Invasion." He thought about it, he planned it out.

And much like invading Poland, Seto had needed to plan out his acquiescence of Shichi Corporation. Including the more recent announcement that he was going to have Nobita Matsuno replaced.

On the other hand he didn't like to really put himself and Hitler on a comparable level. Whilst Hitler crippled nations, Seto wanted to improve output. Yes, he certainly did see some distinct differences between himself and the psychotic Arian fantasist. That said, Seto had put a lot of thought into his actions when dealing with the 'Nobita Situation'. He never made a move without thinking of the consequences, and so when he had said to Nobita yesterday afternoon that he was fired, he had already considered that someone else would need to step in and fill the CEO's shoes until something a bit more permanent could be arranged. Nobita had been suitably surprised, but he had informed Seto that he had considered this possibility months ago when the company was first enveloped, and had already made his owns plans. Seto suspected these comprised of a long holiday away to the Bahamas' with his mistress. But it was really none of his concern, nor did he have any for the balding pile of incompetence. He also already knew who he was going to get to step in for a little while.

Seto didn't like putting too many people with similar ambitions to his own, on a level similar to himself. There were men he trusted, but these men were usually the people who organized his security systems, or the man who was his personal press secretary. They were people, at any rate, who had no ambitions to further themselves in any other areas. People who didn't want his job. So there was no 'Ready-to-go-CEO' person that Seto could easily turn to in this kind of situation. So, bypassing his philosophical round table of executives, he had turned to other potential candidates. One who had stood out amongst the rest was a rather young man (although older than himself, as most people were at his office) who had been particularly supportive of his merger with Shichi Corporation, Yahada Youshi. Seto had naturally first brushed this off as the usual kiss-arsing every employee was expected to do where their boss was concerned, however he had seemed to have some ideas of his own behind the nodding and the exclamations of: "You're so right, that is a great idea Kaiba-sama!" He appeared to have a decent grasp of the situation itself as well, a thousand times more logical than anything that Nobita had pulled in the last term anyway, and all in all, Seto had felt the need to give the boy a chance to prove himself in this role. Besides, it was only temporary.

So he had gone and fired Nobita without hesitating because he had had a plan. He had a replacement, Yahada, so he had not worried about the decision. He knew Yahada would do a much better job, and that the company's let down's would start turning themselves around. As long as you had a plan there was no need to worry.

Someone knocked on his office door. It was a cheerful kind of a knock, the kind that was enthusiastic and for a moment you felt yourself wondering if what you were hearing was meant to be a tune, and whether you could remember what it was.

In this case it was Niita. Of course, Seto thought, making sure to look up at her in a strained kind of way, so that she knew she was interrupting him. And hopefully would also convey that by walking straight in after knocking instead of waiting for a reply defeated the whole purpose of knocking in the first place.

When she just stood there, looking pleasantly happy with the world, as she usually did, Seto felt the need to encourage; "Can I help you?" He also raised an eyebrow.

A piece of half-eaten pocky was hanging from her lips and it moved up and down ever so slightly, as if she was slowly chewing what couldn't be seen inside her mouth. Seto couldn't help but cringe inside; the thought was kind of gross. And he knew it was also kind of anal, but he couldn't help thinking of the amount of crumbs she had no doubt been spreading all over his new computer equipment outside. Didn't they teach children not to eat over a keyboard anymore?

She stopped chewing, took the uneaten pocky out, holding onto it with her left hand, and brought up a note in her right so that she could read it aloud. "China called. Apparently a guy named Yahada Youshi is staying in one of their hotels…"

"He's there on a business trip." Seto input aloud. Did the girl have any idea just how big China _was?_ Luckily he already knew most of the details of Yahada's trip; otherwise he would have been slightly annoyed at her inability to question for details. The man was due back tomorrow, in time to begin his temporary position.

As if reading his thoughts, Niita continued; "The hotel staff were apparently asked to pass on this message to you: Yahada has been in a car accident, and the hospital feels that at this time it would not be wise to fly him back to Japan. He will need at least two weeks solid rest over here, and they seemed to think he would be well enough to call within a few days." She stopped, and looked up at her boss smilingly, as if what she had just said had not ruined his day completely.

Oh great, Seto thought, could he possibly have come up with a more melodramatic excuse to get out of work? He dismissed her thereafter, and she bounced out of the door, shoving the rest of the pocky into her mouth with enthusiasm. He was glad to hear the door shut.

It was typical, really, he'd seen it done before. A mention of Peer Support Seminars or OH&S Training, and suddenly everyone had a broken leg.

This ruined his well-made plans completely. That was why one should always, _always_ have a Plan B.

And _that_ was why it was equally as unfortunate that Seto didn't actually _have_ a Plan B. Although he had always felt that an inept blind monkey with a fractured pelvis and a hearing aid could have run the company better than Nobita, he didn't actually want to put a monkey in the CEO's chair and see what happened.

Some theories were better left untested.

So that left him with finding a human replacement for Yahada. Someone who would not use this opportunity to vie for power and attempt to de-throne him with the help the position 'CEO of Shichi Corporation' actually held. So that ruled out all of his executives and their direct underlings. He could insert someone from a different department but he felt that would be rather a move backwards than forwards. It was too late to actually advertise the position amongst perhaps competing companies or eager businessmen. He needed someone who could take charge of it tomorrow, who knew what he was doing and knew the history of the company, the take over, what his company needed to gain back, and had the ability to do it.

There was a mental pause where Seto finished thinking and then there was just blank while he grouped it all together and came up with the one answer he'd been trying to avoid for the last five minutes, but had known, five minutes ago, that he would eventually reach.

He'd have to do it himself.

* * *

Katsuya had become increasingly more anxious throughout the next day to find out what had gone on between his boss and, well, his boss's boss, just before he had walked in. But he was not due to work again until Saturday, so time seemed to be moving at an unreasonably slow rate. It took forever for classes to finish on Friday, it took hours to make the ten minute train ride back to his station, and his friends chattering voices beside him seemed drawn out and they never appeared to reach a full stop.

Stretching almost unconsciously once they'd finally reached the station, Katsuya remembered that he needed to buy some food for the next few days, and with a bright grin meant to annoy them, he announced they'd need to accompany him to the nearby supermarket. Honda and Yugi groaned but Anzu beamed at the idea of going shopping. Ever since he had moved out of home she had been trying at every opportunity to input into his shopping list, so that she knew there was some chance he would be eating well. For some reason she insisted on preaching that one could not live on simply packet noodles and miso soup alone.

"How can you possibly construct five basic food groups from that?!" She had cried, throwing her hands up into the air dramatically to emphasize that she was dismayed.

Katsuya had considered his answer then said; "Noodles. Soup. Games. Coffee. Sleep. Five basic food groups."

She had snorted then walked off muttering, "You don't even _drink_ coffee."

Since Katsuya was now a 'working man', Anzu figured she could try to sneak a few healthy things into his basket while they were down there. She bounced along the isles peering at all the wonderful things there were to buy.

They swiftly came to the noodle isle and Katsuya immediately turned to go down it, but Anzu reached out her arm and pulled on his elbow.

"Woah, woah… nothing instant! You learn to cook!" She said determinedly.

Katsuya shot her what he hoped was a threatening glare. It looked more like the kind of cute pout that young children have when someone has just said to them they have to pack away their textures because it was dinner time and they needed the room at the table.

"Anzu. I need my noodles. They are the food of life. I don't think you're quite getting this…"

"But they're not good for you! You can't keep a stable diet with only noodles. Plus don't you get bored of them?"

Katsuya mocked looking extremely shocked, "How can you even say that!? Honda, tell her she's wrong." He inclined his head towards the brunet.

Honda grinned. "Anzu, noodles are the food of life."

She glared at him then turned to Yugi.

"Food of life. Like they said." He nodded cheerily with a huge smile; she would never be able to be annoyed with Yugi, even if he _was_ siding with the enemy.

"Besides, you've already put this other random stuff in here…" Katsuya began to properly inspect Anzu's additions. "A banana… something that might be peas… uh, a small tree..?"

"It's called broccoli." She said flatly.

"Oh."

She huffed, knowing she was beaten simply by Katsuya's sheer stupidity in the face of nutrition, but didn't want to verbally admit it.

They started walking further down the isle. Katsuya grinned once more, "Well, I'll give you the honour of choosing which packet of noodles I eat this week?"

It brought a whole new meaning to 'peace-offering'.

But Anzu took it. She scanned the isle for what could count as the healthiest instant noodles. She soon spied ones that came with optional dried vegetables. Those would have to do.

"Wow. I didn't realize how many brands there were of these things!" Honda never shopped except for picking up snacks at a deli. Once his mother had given him a grocery list which he had enlisted Katsuya's help in deciphering; they had spent almost an hour in the basement supermarket and had eventually emerged with three items on the list of 36, and the rest was made up of pounds of cold fish, some seaweed, bird seed, and any fruits or vegetables that they had thought looked particularly amusing.

"Oh yeah, you never run out of noodles. They bring out new kinds all the time. Like this one for instance…" Katsuya felt himself rather an expert on the food these days. He picked up a packet of cup noodles and handed them to Honda.

They had a picture of a smiling Japanese man dressed in a Genie suit with stars all around him and bright colours flashing out from every available bit of foam. They were apparently 'wishing noodles', which helped to explain the genie costume. They also promised to grant you your three most important wishes: "Comes with Chopsticks. No Need to Add Flavor. Just Pour Water."

Neat.

Anzu peered at the cup Katsuya had selected. "Oh no, you're getting this one." She dumped her own selection into his basket.

"Dude. Those don't even have a mascot!" Honda said, chuckling. She glared at him, although it was somewhat half-hearted.

"Why don't you get both?" Yugi suggested.

"Yes. Good idea." Katsuya smiled annoyingly at Anzu and placed his own selection next to hers. But she was no longer mad. He hadn't taken out the vegetables, and that was more than she had even hoped to get.

"Alright, alright." She smiled once more.

They eventually headed to the check out and for the first time in what felt like a very long time indeed, Katsuya hadn't needed to worry about how much he spent and sit there with a calculator working out how many packets of what he could afford down to the last yen. Well, he _had_, but not to the same extent in any case.

Katsuya was with his friends and was laughing again; time was beginning to flow at a normal rate once more. With any luck Saturday would come tomorrow, instead of next year.

* * *

What got Seto through his first two days was the reminder that his having to be here was only temporary, and that once he had finished here he could put all his time and effort into finding someone more permanent to replace him. 

That and, he felt his life was just _that_ much more bearable when Niita wasn't around. She _had _been calling him from his across-town office however, usually when it was most inconvenient for him, throughout the day. He had to stop and wonder whether in his absence she had turned the place into some sort of cram school for nail polish-wearing bleach-dyed relationship-journalists. Unfortunately, it was not too hard to imagine. With added thoughts like these he felt even more 'office-sick' than he already did with just the fact that he wasn't sitting in his normal chair or behind his normal desk or yelling at his normal employees.

That was the other problem with moving suddenly to a new host of employee minions; none of them were used to Kaiba Seto coming into their workplace everyday. He was _the_ Kaiba Seto, a name almost every person in Domino City knew. People feared him and hated him and loved him and some apparently even wanted to marry him. Granted, some people were crazy, but there was nothing Seto could have done about that. The people in his normal office were used to him arriving everyday, they were polite and respectful, but they didn't stare at him wonderingly and start whispering whenever he was in the vicinity. That was just another thing that seemed to bug him about this new office. It would take awhile for things to settle down and the company to get used to him being there. A small part of him felt sorry for them, knowing that once he found a replacement or Yahada returned, they would need to repeat the process all over again.

Not to the same extent of course. Because, to re-iterate, he was _THE_ Kaiba Seto.

Nobody turned more heads than him.

Although, maybe, a giraffe wearing a pink dress and a top hat and carrying an umbrella riding on a bright red double decker bus may turn quite a few heads as well.

But it would be a steep competition.

Sasaki stared neatly down at him. She emanated neatness like a toilet emanates a bad smell. As such she probably would not have thought this was a very pleasing comparison. She was saying something about files and paper and he was actually listening but it was hard to get over how pointy her nose was.

"These are the rest of the files you asked for; sorry they are a bit late but I had other pressing matters I needed to attend to," Sasaki was probably the only person in the entire office who would have the nerve to imply something was more important than Kaiba. But it did make him remember that fetching things was not actually her job. "Jonouchi will be here tomorrow to fill in that kind of work for you." She almost sneered at the idea of being such a petty errand-girl. She must have realized, however, that a sneer really didn't suit her nose.

Jonouchi? He'd almost forgotten that the mutt worked here. Well, that confirmed his earlier suspicions; the boy was obviously some sort of filing assistant. Probably had a similar job to Niita if he had understood Sasaki's implications. The idea was suddenly amusing, mainly because it entailed an image of Jonouchi spontaneously deciding to paint his nails red.

He nodded at Sasaki and she took the non-verbal cue to leave. Well, at least tomorrow there would be one person who didn't whisper behind his back or stare at him when he walked past. Jonouchi would probably yell at his face then proceed to follow it through with a fist instead. Seto struggled to decide which was more appealing.

* * *

Katsuya had tried to mentally prepare himself for every possible scenario that he would find at work that day. They ranged from everything being just peachy, wherein Kaiba's visit had just been a routine inspection, to arriving to find a hoard of raging antelope's cracking into the cocoa beans in the lunch room. They did include, however, the possibility that Nobita had been fired and, in an even worse possibility, he would find Kaiba in the office to replace him. It wasn't the most desirable scenario, granted, but he had tried to tell himself to prepare for it all the same. He wasn't just going to stand there dumbstruck this time. And he _wasn't_ going to let the jerk ignore him.

He was never usually the first person there, which had led him to believe that other people started earlier than him. It was a fairly logical conclusion. So even though there were less people at the office than on a weekday, the atmosphere when he arrived was still slightly tense. It seemed to rub off on you, like some sort of clingy attitude infection, and he immediately felt himself become slightly more alert.

"Uh… How's the Saturday Sasaki-san?" He said in the cheeriest voice he could muster to the receptionist as he walked in. She still didn't like him all that much, but since he at least knew her name he made a point of greeting her when he came to work in the morning and being polite enough to say goodbye at the end of the day.

She glared up at him, trying to make it look like he was interrupting, but the attempt sort-of back fired as he saw her hastily try to cover up a beauty magazine with some papers. "Just fine." She said irritably, "Don't you have work to catch up on?"

Katsuya usually spent the first part of any shift finishing off the jobs that had piled up in his absence, since he did not work every day. This usually consisted of being met with a huge stack of paperwork to be filed bright and early on a Saturday morning. "Probably." He smiled at her, taking his time to walk away so that she wouldn't be able to get back to her reading as quickly as she would have liked.

It was definitely still tense; Sasaki's usual attitude towards him wasn't an indication of anything. He could have been handing her a check for a million yen and she still would have found an opportunity to be irritated with him. There was only one way to find out what had happened on Thursday afternoon: go to Nobita's office and ask him. Or ask the person who was there instead.

He found his way to the CEO's door, didn't let himself gain anymore hope when the name plate still read Nobita, and opened the door without knocking.

Okay so that last part was mostly habit.

He was glad he had done all that mental preparing and whatever else Anzu had been going on about. Kaiba's cold eyes glanced up at him from the screen he had been staring at. Instead of using Nobita's computer, Kaiba had set up his own laptop on the desk, something Katsuya vaguely remembered him never really being without.

Seto didn't say anything but leaned back into a proper sitting position as Katsuya walked in and stood before his desk. The blonde crossed his arms and glared down at him.

It was nice being taller than Kaiba for once, Katsuya reflected. "What happened to Nobita?" He already knew the answer of course.

"Isn't it obvious?" Kaiba sounded just as disdainful and pompous as he remembered, "Or have you managed to lose even more brain cells in the last few years?"

Katsuya's glare didn't falter, "What was wrong with him? He was the first nice business person I've met in my entire life. And you go and sack him."

Seto raised an eyebrow, "I'm sorry, next time I'll consult your personal choice of business role models before deciding on an impacting career move."

They hadn't seen each other for a few years now, but their conversation had already started flow like the time lapse had been only ten minutes. But both felt slightly calmer than they remembered ever being during any of their encounters in the past. Katsuya, in any case, didn't feel like ramming his fist into Kaiba's face.

Yet.

Give it another five minutes or so, he thought.

Katsuya made a sort of disgruntled noise in place of any immediate comeback, but Kaiba seemed to be continuing right on anyway; "Do you have a _problem_ with the turn of events, Jonouchi?" Seto sounded calm, but his voice held an obviously veiled threat.

"Is that a rhetorical question?" Katsuya raised an eyebrow. What was he supposed to say? Oh yes, he loved the fact that Kaiba got to personally order him around all day. It was what he had always dreamed of doing when he grew up.

Actually, maybe that _was_ what Kaiba wanted to hear. Katsuya had never exactly bothered to try to decipher the man before. He got as far as: stupid annoying git, and then left it in search of something more pleasant to think about.

Kaiba was still staring at him, daring him to answer with anything else. Katsuya suddenly felt like fidgeting under that cold gaze, and he started to worry about something else. Not only was there the chance he would be fired when the company was downsized (which, he had made the assumption, it was probably going to be) but there was an even greater chance that he would be fired simply because Kaiba didn't like him. Did he even want to be there if this was the person he had to put up with every shift? Yugi had said to ignore him and get on with his work; well, he guessed he could do that easily enough.. right? But would Kaiba just get rid of him before he had a chance to prove to the man that yes, they could ignore each other if they just put their minds to it?

He had decided he was going to try his best with this job, be his boss the embodiment of evil or not, and to start off with, he had to go about convincing Kaiba that the whole situation had absolutely nothing to do with him.

"I didn't know you owned this place when I applied for this job." Katsuya stated, with a look of determination, his voice doing a complete 180 from the biting tones he'd first adopted upon entering. He really wanted to make this clear to Kaiba; that it wasn't by choice that the situation had ended up this way.

The Gods just didn't like him, that's all.

Seto raised an eyebrow, "Uh-huh."

Katsuya tried to intensify his look, but it wasn't really having any obvious effect.

"I don't care." Seto stated finally. "It doesn't really matter how you got here, you're working here now and I don't really want to have to go through the annoyance of advertising your position during my first week here as it would cut into at least three minutes of my time."

Katsuya was a little lost, he _thought_ Kaiba was implying that that was what would happen if Katsuya quit. Which is what he thought Kaiba _thought_ he was thinking about doing. So did that mean Kaiba _wasn't_ thinking about firing him? He just thought Katsuya would quit? But he had said he didn't want to be bothered with that… so did that mean Kaiba was _hoping_ Katsuya _wouldn't_ quit, so he wouldn't have to bother with hiring someone new?

"Do you need me to rephrase that, mutt?"

"No." Katsuya was pretty sure he didn't, anyway. "And don't call me that." He glared at the CEO, who apparently couldn't go more than a minute without insulting him. But all of a sudden he felt happier, like a weight had been lifted off his chest once again. Kaiba hadn't exactly said it in as many words, but he didn't want Katsuya to just up and leave, and that was good enough for him.

"So," Katsuya continued, much happier than he had been all morning, but not quite allowing himself a full smile, "Is there something you want me to do?"

* * *

Seto was feeling a small sense of relief that Katsuya's first words hadn't been: "I quit." It was just _annoying_ having to find new people on short notice. He'd experienced first hand how badly it could turn out when hiring a new assistant as quickly as possible. He didn't think he would have been able to restrain himself from killing something if he had had to deal with a Niita duplicate at this office as well. Although he hated Jonouchi on principle, he knew that when the boy was determined to do something, he got it done. So Seto just hoped he would approach his day job with as much determination.

As long as he was better than Niita, Seto would be happy.

He thought about Jonouchi's question and looked around the office trying to remember where he'd left the paperwork he'd finished last night. "You can put those away," He motioned to a stack of papers he'd left on top of a bookshelf, "Don't you have lots of other things you usually do?"

"Uh, not really." Katsuya admitted, walking over to pick up the papers. "I do whatever anyone needs me to around here. You'd be surprised how many odd jobs an assistant actually does." He threw Seto a look that implied he thought the CEO would never have understood the lives of the common folk.

Seto almost agreed with him, he certainly couldn't ever see Niita doing any real work. Unless you could count typing personal emails and whipping out a mirror to check her hair was still styled properly every 5 minutes proper work.

"I have had my fair run of personal assistants in my time at Kaiba Corp. I think I know what they _do._" Seto said sarcastically.

Katsuya looked up at him before leaving the room to store away the precious files, "I've no doubt." He said with amusement and an evident grin now. Then he slipped out the door and out of sight.

Seto stared. No way did Jonouchi get to mock him!

Wow, if _that_ didn't sound childish enough… He rolled his mental eye and sighed. Ah well, he'd find some other way to enact revenge, have no doubt.

* * *

Revenge came in the form of the most complex order of coffee Katsuya had ever heard before. Seto wasn't about to admit it to his new assistant, but it had taken him a good ten minutes to come up with all the extra features. Actually, it had been kind of fun. 

But he wasn't about to admit _that_, either.

He was just happy being about to sit comfortably in his temporary office while he knew Jonouchi was out somewhere walking the streets, probably very annoyed with him, but still having to complete the coffee-task.

What did they call it when you got your kicks from pushing other people around? He couldn't remember but, he was pretty sure he related to it.

* * *

"Sadistic bastard!" Katsuya hissed, walking along the street and pulling his jacket closer around his chest. A wind had decided to perk up just as he'd walked outside, and initially it had threatened to steal his order away from him. The tiny piece of paper held Kaiba's annoyingly neat handwriting, outlining exactly the kind of complex coffee he had ordered Jonouchi to get.

Yeah, that's right, ordered. As in, no asking involved, Katsuya thought irritably. What's more he couldn't just go to the café a few doors down like he did for everyone else in the office, Kaiba had had to request he walk all the way across the block, down an alley, up a few more side streets, through a park, over a bridge, and across a train line to get to a tiny coffee shop Katsuya had never heard of.

Luckily for him, Kaiba hadn't specified a time he needed to be back, since it was probably going to take awhile to return. He thought off-handedly that by that time his boss's coffee would be cold anyway.

It was indeed a very small shop. From the outside it looked like a tea room, but one of the weekly special posters in the window did specify coffee, so Katsuya pushed open the door and wandered inside. It had a very pleasant atmosphere, and it wasn't too crowded which was a feature he had always admired.

He walked over to the counter and a young woman soon appeared and smiled brightly up at him. "How can I help you today sir?" She extracted a pen and small pad from her apron automatically, there was a click as she pressed the ink down and her hand finally finished moving poised steady and ready to write just above the paper.

Katsuya motioned for her that it was not necessary to take notes, and handed her the already-written instructions. As she read over them her smile faltered. She looked back up at him; "I'm sorry, but we don't actually have a drink of this kind on our menu."

"Oh." Katsuya frowned, "Well, do you at least have all the ingredients?"

She nodded, "Yes, but they don't usually mix well together, if you will?" She was desperately trying to explain to him what he already understood; the drink was simply a concoction of the most random ingredients Kaiba could think of.

"It's not actually for me," He tried to reassure her he wasn't a complete moron, "But I have to take it back to someone you see? So, if you could make it I would pay for all the extra bits."

She sighed, but then smiled again, remembering about 'customer care' and all of those other silly rules impressed upon the face to face sales industry. "Of course sir, it'll just be a few minutes."

He threw her a thankful look before she wandered off to start the precarious invention. He walked off to find a table to sit at while he waited, figuring it would probably take a little bit longer than a few minutes. If only because she would need to go out of her way to actually _find_ all of the ingredients. He was just about to sit down when someone called out his name.

Looking around frantically and blinking like he had been struck dumb, he tried to locate the source of the summoning.

A smiling head of white hair waved at him from stall a few metre's away. Katsuya finally smiled and returned the distance greeting. He made his way over there and Ryou motioned for him to sit down. Katsuya slid into the seat across from him, only at the last minute realizing that he had just sat down right next to..

He let out a small 'eek' of shock. Bakura rolled his eyes disinterestedly, he _had_ been sitting there the whole time; clearly Ryou's friend was just too stupid to have noticed. "Surprise." He said dryly.

Ryou had let out a small chuckle at Katsuya's reaction. But he could sympathise, people didn't see Bakura much these days. The spirit of the Millennium Ring, although quite happy to be around other people when the occasion involved stealing their wallet, had a whole other anti-social side. Although Ryou suspected that there was more to it, Bakura openly claimed his hate of every living person and chose to believe that this was why he disliked spending time with anyone in particular.

"Uh…" Katsuya leaned forward over the table and put a hand up to his mouth to whisper to Ryou; "What's he _doing_ here?!"

"There are less obvious ways to whisper. Jeez, have a sense of conspiracy would you?" Bakura actually looked more amused than annoyed. He was smirking.

Actually, Katsuya was surprised to find, Ryou looked like he was quite amused as well. He also looked more relaxed than normal somehow. "Bakura doesn't get to come out of the Ring very much; I figured he might enjoy the fresh air."

Bakura muttered something about 'mothering him'.

"But, Ryou, he's a psychopath." Katsuya had a tone similar to that of an adult explaining to a child that they should not run with scissors because they were likely to fall on them and pierce their lower intestines,

"And psychopaths don't need fresh air. They need confinement. And straight jackets." Katsuya explained.

Ryou simply smiled again, "Don't worry; he hasn't done anything horrible in a long time."

"Doesn't mean he couldn't start now."

"Dog-boy has a point." Bakura grinned fiendishly, but Ryou wouldn't hear any more on it.

Another thought suddenly struck Katsuya, "Uh… you guys aren't… like… on a _date_ or anything, are you?" It was embarrassing just to ask.

"Urgh… no." Ryou looked almost revolted at the idea. At the same time a strange look passed over Bakura's face, but neither of the other boys were looking at him at that precise moment, so they both missed it.

And just as quickly it was gone.

He scoffed, "Humans have such stupid ideas."

Katsuya was slightly red now; he threw his hands up in the air and apologized, "heh heh… sorry guys." If he had been an anime character he would have sweat-dropped.

"Jonouchi?" The assistant's voice called out to the general crowd of patrons.

"Ah." Katsuya jumped up. Saved by the coffee, he thought.

He made his way back over to the end of the counter where she waited with a rather large cup that had a raised lid.

"A double mocha triple berry extra chocolate with hazelnuts, cream centred…"

Katsuya raised a hand to stop her, "Save it." He sighed. She smiled half-heartedly at him, as he took the cup from her. It was nice and warm, and suddenly he was glad to be able to make the return trip with it since it was sure to still be windy and thus cold outside when he ventured back out there.

He handed over the money to her, then turned back to where his friend was sitting.

"Well, I've got to head off and deliver this to Kaiba. Hopefully it will be cold by the time he gets it." Katsuya grinned evilly.

"Kaiba? What the hell are you getting _him_ coffee for!?" Bakura seemed a bit surprised, so perhaps Ryou hadn't passed on that Katsuya was working for him now.

In fact, Katsuya hadn't passed that on to _anyone_ yet, since he had only just found it out himself that morning.

Ryou reiterated the same question but without swearing.

"Oh. Right. Well, turns out that he fired my boss and his replacement fell through or something so now he has to do the job for awhile."

Ryou looked sympathetic, knowing that this must have annoyed Katsuya very much. Bakura, on the other hand, burst out laughing.

"So, let me get this straight: you, as assistant to whatshisname, who got fired, now has to be assistant to Kaiba, the biggest prick in history, and he has you running all over town _fetching_ him coffee like a good little doggy? And you do this _willingly_?!" He cracked up laughing all over again.

Katsuya growled, this time _really_ annoyed with the spirit; "Shut the fuck up! I know it's a concept you can't understand, but I actually need the money so I can _live._ I _hate_ Kaiba, I didn't even know he owned the place when I started, otherwise I never would have tried to get a job there!"

"Woah woah, no need to get so defensive…" Bakura was grinning at him somewhat triumphantly. He looked like he thought Katsuya's protesting spoke volumes of un-voiced ulterior meaning.

That just annoyed Katsuya even more. Ryou threw him a pained kind of look, and apologized on his yami's behalf.

He took it as a good cue to leave, since he needed to get back soon anyway. He pointedly said goodbye to Ryou whilst ignoring Bakura, who only found this even more amusing, and finally left the shop after what seemed a lot longer than he had originally hoped to spend on just getting coffee. Bakura, despite himself, had given Katsuya more to think about whilst he walked all the way back to the office.

In the end, however, Katsuya decided he didn't give a shit what Bakura thought of him. He needed to keep this job to be able to keep himself clothed and fed and sheltered, and it hadn't exactly been an unbearable day working with Kaiba. He had avoided the big-headed jerk for the most part, and if all it took to get his pay check was walking half-way across the suburb to fetch him coffee well, then at least Katsuya was getting fresh air and exercise and putting as much distance between them as possible.

If this was all it took, he thought, he would survive.

* * *

End Note: No, I'm not suddenly making any other main pairings for this fic (what pairings anyway, eh?) but I just felt that YGO has so many great characters in it, it was about time I started including them a little bit more. Or at least give two of them a little tiny scene in this chapter anyway. I haven't thought about any such similar anythings in the future. Everything is yet to be decided. 

Anyhoo, see you next time!


	6. Busy

A/N: I was going to write more for this chapter, and then I remembered I go to university…

damn.

I've been feeling completely uninspired lately and in my very personal opinion, this chapter is not quite up to standard… but… I will let you make your own decisions on the matter. Ja ne

Disclaimer: Characters, worlds, people, games, and everything else is owned by and copyrighted Kazuki Takahashi. This is a non-for-profit fan work with no particular personal gain in mind. I own the writing and nothing else.

* * *

Katsuya had decided that, really, it was about time he gave Honda his work clothes back. He had received a few paychecks now, and with the extras he hadn't needed to spend on the cost of living, he figured he had enough to buy himself a whole new outfit or even two that he could wear to work, and finally return all of his friends clothes (he'd ended up borrowing some shirts from Otogi as Honda seemed to only own one that was presentable enough).

Everyone _else_ had decided this needed to be a group project.

So that Wednesday afternoon they'd slipped to the shops to look for Katsuya's new work clothes, and Anzu, who seemed to be thrilled about most aspects of his new lifestyle, had enthusiastically led the way. Unfortunately, in what had now digressed to being a very undesirable situation for all other present members of the troupe, Anzu had decided to be somewhat picky about the articles of clothing Katsuya tried on. In the past hour she hadn't been satisfied with anything, and even now she was still frowning amongst the racks of shirts.

With nothing better to do in the bad situation, the others had decided to start playing a game. The game was to guess how many more stores it would take for Jou to crack and either give up on the whole idea, yell at Anzu, or buy the nearest few items of clothing and storm out.

Someone was about to win.

"Anzu." Katsuya started, his voice taking on a threatening tone. He was standing in front of a change room, with a whole new set of neat clothes on, and she was frowning again. "What, exactly, is wrong this time?"

She tilted her head to the side. "I just don't think that colour shirt really goes with your hair colour. I mean…"

"You said that last time." Katsuya interrupted her, and to all the world clearly trying to keep his temper down. He could understand that women thought a lot about this kind of thing. He wasn't mad at Anzu for being picky, because girls were just like that. He was just irritated that, in all their years of friendship, she still hadn't seemed to grasp the concept that he wasn't like a girl. Being that he was a boy. And boys weren't picky about clothing. They didn't really give a rat's ass whether a button matched their eye colour. It fit, and that was about as important as the features of any article got.

Although, he had to admit, her determination in the face of the fact that most of her best friends were the opposite gender was one thing Katsuya admired about her. She never complained about having to be dragged to arcades and watching her friends play games for the most part, and they in turn didn't put up much of a fight when she started ranting about the latest hot boy band or fussing over her makeup. Once, when he was sleeping, she had even plaited Ryou's hair. This was a few years ago now, and although he had been initially quite miffed, he had forgiven her eventually.

The others were keeping the photo hidden away until his twenty-first birthday.

Anzu pouted, "Well, it was true last time, and it's true this time."

Katsuya gave her one last glare; the others looked on in a mixture of hope and wariness. Suddenly he broke her gaze and turned straight around back behind the doors of the change room. She blinked; she had been expecting him to explode. After a very short amount of time he re-emerged, back once again in his normal attire of jeans and t-shirt. The clothes he had tried on where slung over the crook of his arm, and Anzu eyed them with slight precaution.

"I'm sure the next place we look will have…"

Katsuya raised his hand, palm towards her, and she stopped speaking. "I'm getting these ones." He stated. Then, when he found he couldn't keep his serious face on for very much longer, he chuckled and turned to her with a grin; "Plus I'm starving Anzu! We've been shopping for ages! Aren't you hungry?"

She returned the smile, and finally admitted defeat. Mostly because her stomach decided to growl at that moment, almost as if it had heard Katsuya and wanted to express its agreement.

He smiled broadly, happy that it was finally all over, and headed to the counter to pay for the clothes which, although in Anzu's opinion didn't match his hair, fitted him perfectly. In any case, it wasn't as if he actually had someone to impress.

Behind them, the other boys let out a contented sigh. Finally the madness had come to an end. To them, _every_ piece of clothing Jou had tried on had looked pretty much the same thus far, so although they were a little annoyed it had taken him this long to stand up to Anzu's scrutiny, he _had_ done it eventually, and that was all that mattered.

Yugi, of course, never lost a game. "Alright, pay up!" He said cheerfully, breaking the happy silence and turning to each of his taller friends.

"How did I just know it would end like this?" Honda wailed sarcastically, reaching into his pocket to find his wallet and withdraw the required amount of cash. Otogi just chuckled, whilst Ryou was looking frowningly at his scarcely financed case and thinking that perhaps it hadn't been the best idea to go in on the bet when he wasn't sure he would have anything left over once he paid the winner.

However Yugi, being Yugi, generously decided to spend the money he'd just received to finance their dinner, and none of the boys could really hold it against him for very much longer. He even had some left over afterwards and bought them all a few rounds of games at the arcade.

Katsuya, Honda and Yugi had always been the most interested in these types of games. Otogi naturally preferred dice games and Ryou still loved his tabletop RPG's, even if he didn't really get to play all that much anymore. Everyone was just too busy. And although that was becoming a more commonly used excuse nowadays, he realized it was just too painfully true. They were older now, out of school, and life was suddenly a lot more hectic. That was what happened when you grew up, Ryou supposed. Life was one giant busy. Interrupted by odd moments of calm in which to reflect on the fact that perhaps your life really was going down the toilet, but knowing deep down that you may never have enough energy to do something about it. _Because_ life was busy, it took it away.

"Looks like Kaiba's latest game." Yugi said, pointing to a gaming console over in the corner. It had been given wide berth, almost as if the other games wanted nothing to do with the newcomer and had surreptitiously shifted away from it, and large posters were displayed all around the machine with the infamous "KC" logo. It looked very fancy and technical. Kaiba had, as they knew very well, been a fore-runner in designing holographic technology, and many of the gaming systems his company produced included some sort of form of it. This latest game appeared to be a shooting game. These were Honda's favourite kind, his skills in the field even helping his friends out once or twice before, so he immediately volunteered to try it.

Katsuya was always hesitant to jump up and down at the chance to play a game produced by his most hated ex-classmate, so he gladly encouraged Honda to have the first go. They all stayed to watch the developments of course, interested to see how Honda would fare versus Kaiba's game, and also how the game itself would work. None of them had ever seen it before, so they assumed it was brand new.

Honda stepped up onto a small platform that was fronted by low wall, blocking him from walking further. Straight across from him was a screen, flashing with scenes from the game and high scores at intervenient moments. Honda put six 100 yen coins into the slot and waited for it to start. Immediately the screen changed and "new game" could be seen flashing at the bottom. What he realized he also hadn't noticed before was that there were two more screens either side of the main one; nothing had been displayed on them previously so in the dark he had completely over looked them. They were lit up now though, the background a landscape he suspected he would come across later on. He picked up the gun in front of him; it was plastic but felt suitably heavy, and since it was only a hand gun he shifted it into his right hand, and then fired at the screen. "New Game" flashed twice in recognition, then proceeded to fulfill his wish.

There was a plot involved, probably, but Honda fired straight past it to get on with the actual shooting part of the FPS. He was happy when the game finally started and found himself suddenly standing in the middle of a deserted street. There was gun fire, and then there was gun fire at _him._ Men rushed out from behind cars and poles and Honda didn't need telling twice what to do in this situation. He fired with practiced precision and seemingly controlled abandon. He was taken by surprise however, when he turned a little to his left and was met face to face with the enemy. The guy wasn't just on the screen; he was right in front of him! Honda reacted immediately and shot the man down. The words "Stage 1 Completed" flashed across the main, centre screen, although he didn't really notice them. He was still trying to calm his breathing right down. The enemies were not only on the screens a few metres in front of him; they were being projected three-dimensionally out towards him as well. And they looked so lifelike.

This game was so awesome!

Katsuya was impressed, but did his best not to show it. How could he ever be impressed with something _Kaiba_ had made anyway? The rest of them were making "ooo's" and "ahh's" at appropriate intervals, and he had to admit that holographic enemy coming out of nowhere had caught him by surprise as well. At any rate, he flatly refused to recognise out loud to how good the CEO's latest product was, or agree when his friends kept saying it.

"So how is your work with Kaiba going?" Anzu asked him, her voice slightly lower so that Honda could concentrate on killing. Although she perhaps needn't have bothered, with the amount of noise that was coming from the machine.

"Mmm?" Katsuya stirred from his vengeful thoughts to turn to her, "I can tolerate it I suppose."

She looked slightly surprised, "Wow. So he really must not be that bad then? I mean, if _you're_ saying he's tolerable than that means a whole lot more than if someone else had said that he…"

"I meant the _job _is tolerable, not him." Katsuya hastened to correct himself. Just thinking about his 'boss' left him glowering. "_He_ is still a pushy, pompous, ego-inflated jerk."

Anzu chuckled; maybe it was impossible to change Jonouchi's opinion after all. Although, she herself had not met or spoken to the boy-billionaire since graduating high school, she always liked to think the best of people and in this case would have liked to hope that Kaiba had lost some of that smart-allec edge by now. Perhaps she was wrong, perhaps she was right, but she didn't foresee working this out personally any time in the near future.

"Ah well, at least you say it's tolerable. And you're not pulling each others hair out constantly or punching each other in the face, right?"

Katsuya muttered something that sounded like: "barely" before frowning and glaring at nothing in particular.

Honda made it past stage after stage and eventually he was facing what could only be the hardest stages in the game and by this point all of his friends – Katsuya included – were openly cheering him on. He reached the final boss and his cronies and fired away, now completely confidant with the new system of enemies at all levels of vision. He knocked them away until finally there was only the boss left. The computer character spieled some plot point before pulling out two machine guns and firing recklessly at Honda. He motioned the gun to move his character behind a pillar and out of immediate harms way. The brunet waited until the boss had finished firing both his clips and went to reload. Then Honda sprang back out again and started his round of firing. He lost four bullets, the third one hitting home.

After a final film clip the ending credits rolled, and his friends gave up numerous rounds of cheers while they waited to the very end. Honda input his name, then finally the game flashed back to the "new game" screen.

"Anyone else want to give it a try?" Honda grinned, clearly pleased with himself.

Katsuya was also grinning back, "Na man, I don't think anyone else would be able to do such a good job. Plus we've just watched the whole thing…"

His other friends nodded in agreement.

They decided to leave it at that grand finale, and seeing that it was quite late by now, and as most of them had to attend morning lectures, they soon found themselves parting ways. Standing alone on the train on his way back to his apartment Katsuya pondered when it was he was going to be able to see each of his friends again. Yugi and Ryou he would see tomorrow as they had a class together, but Anzu was taking a completely different degree to the rest of them so they didn't see her very often at all, and Otogi didn't even attend the same university. Honda shared some of his other classes but only one of his tutorials. He wouldn't see him until Monday.

And then another thought occurred to him; that in all actuality, these days he saw Kaiba more than he saw his friends. It had only been a week since the CEO had taken over Nobita's old job temporarily, but in that time he had seen Kaiba at least three times, and this Wednesday was the _first_ time he had seen his friends. Katsuya gazed mournfully up at the roof; was this what his life was going to be like from now on?

He was suddenly a lot less enthusiastic to go to work tomorrow.

* * *

If Seto had liked reflecting on his past childhood, which he didn't, he may have noticed something interesting. Compared to most of his other school associates and people of his age, he had seemed to completely skiped the whole "rebellious teenager" phase of development. If it could have been visually displayed on a graph, one would have observed a giant leap from 'boy with need to cling to parent figure' to 'man with enough intelligence and independence to run a multi-billion dollar corporation on his own'. Seto might have further reflected, which he wasn't, that he was extremely lucky in this case that Mokuba wasn't going through any annoying teenage phases either. Or, if he was, Seto didn't know about them. He still clung to his older brother like glue, something which was probably owed to their not having any biological parents anymore. They had both been very young when they had suddenly become orphans, and both had many years of grief and growth now behind them. When running a company one always had to look towards the future. Seto's days of dwelling on dueling and festering over all the possible ways to beat Yugi Moutou were behind him.

Well, more or less anyway. Dueling was still one of his greatest passions. Even if it had digressed to somewhat more of a hobby these days. He was just too damn busy. Mokuba had a lot more time to still enjoy being a kid, and Seto discreetly encouraged this in his own kind of way, feeling that the boy had gone through way too many hardships in his life already to be throwing away his childhood as well. Kaiba Mokuba was technically second in charge of Kaiba Corp. and while he still sometimes helped out with odd things (for example when someone was required to road test a new game he might make a sudden reappearance), Seto was the one who was really running it all. If it hadn't been like that in the past, life had changed to make it so. Life was like that. Life was busy.

Life really did get in the way a lot of the time.

Three days ago he had received a call from Yahada's Chinese hospital, and Yahada himself had spent ten minutes profusely apologizing for the accident. Which hadn't been his fault in the first place, but when it came to dealing with Kaiba it was best to offer an apology than an excuse and blame someone else. Seto had expressed his irritation towards the issue but had conceded long ago that no matter what was said now, there could be nothing done to change the fact. He had also begun to grow accustomed to his temporary office. Doing his work on his lap top and via emails to his main office was something had he done almost everyday when he had needed to attend school, so he fell back into the old routine almost effortlessly. In a random act of kindness he had even finished his conversation with Yahada by telling him to take all the time he needed to get better, not to rush, and to rest well.

Later he would wonder what the hell had gotten into him.

The phone rang, interrupting his thoughts. He automatically reached out a hand to the receiver but stopped, suddenly realizing that it wasn't _that_ phone that was making noise. He pulled out his mobile from his pocket and flipped it open, answering aloud at the same time.

"Hello!"   
Seto paused, then glared determinedly at the desk in front of him, wishing it was her face instead. "Niita, why in God's name are you calling my mobile? I have an office phone."

If she was fazed by this her voice didn't show it, "I had to make sure you picked up this time."

He frowned at that; so she had realized he'd been avoiding answering her phone calls? Great. It wasn't his fault if he had told her eight times not to call him so often but she kept doing it despite what he had said. It gave him every right to ignore her if she was going to ignore him first when he said not to do something.

Sensing that Kaiba was likely to hang up on her now that he knew who she was, she hastily explained the reason for her call; "I just wanted to let you know that you left your presentation at the office. You know, the one you need for your second meeting this afternoon? I would have told you sooner but I only just discovered it on your desk."

He would swear she had some sort of unconscious selective capability that turned her brain on at the oddest of moments. Usually they were times like this, when she was giving him bad news.

"What." It was a statement in the way that he said it; his tone implied that he wanted to doubt that very much but also that part of him was already dawning to the fact that she might actually be right for once.

If he'd left his presentation at the office, that was not a good thing. Like she had said he had two meetings this afternoon, and one he noted, looking at his watch, was in ten minutes in Shichi Corporation's conference room with their board of directors. He was going to formally announce his plans to instigate a new CEO, and would explain the other minor details that would be associated with this. Including just how many people were going to be fired.

He was rather looking forward to it, actually.

After that finished however, he was due at an informal meeting over dinner with a few of his shareholders. He needed the presentation for that to show them various reports and charts and graphs that all basically illustrated how well his company was doing and implied upon them how lucky and smart they were for keeping money in it. People were worried about his most recent business takeover, and if he showed up without the documents to back up his claim, he would lose credibility. He _needed_ that report, but he didn't have any time to go and get it.

Niita repeated herself, assuming this is what Seto had meant. He sighed in annoyance and leaned his head on his palm, supported by his elbow on the desk in front of him. What a day to forget a simple report.  
She heard him sigh and said, "I guess you'll just have to go without it." She was his personal assistant, she knew his schedule.

He was still frowning, entirely annoyed with himself now for being so absent minded, when a thought suddenly struck him.

"No," he said, pulling himself back together, "I'll send someone over to get it."

* * *

"You know it'll take me a good hour to get across town right now. Actually maybe longer, it's almost peak time." Katsuya said matter-of-factly. "And that means the same amount of time back."

Kaiba had explained the situation to him, almost immediately after he had hung up with whomever he had been speaking to.

"I know. That's why you're taking the car." Katsuya observed that Kaiba looked like it pained him to say this. Probably thinks the poverty will rub off onto the seats or something, he thought.

"The Car?" Katsuya asked automatically, emphasizing the capitol letters.

Kaiba glared at him. "Yes the car. _My_ car to be precise. So don't go messing it up." He made a noise that sounded like 'hunh', "Not that the Driver would let you anyway."

Katsuya blinked while he tried to figure this out. Then it hit him; "You're letting me take your _limousine_!?" He half-yelled it.

"Yes. I can't afford you to waste hours on the trains over this. I need that presentation immediately." Kaiba looked like he was thoroughly sick of answering Katsuya's stupid questions.

Which, in fact, he was.

"So go already." Kaiba's glare seemed to increase again, as he stared his latest assistant down.

Katsuya stood still for a moment. He was torn between wanting Kaiba to be disadvantaged without his report to being extremely excited about hopping a ride in a limousine.

Well, there was no way he was going to able to say no anyway. He would have had to take the subway if Kaiba hadn't been willing to offer his help. He felt he should be extremely grateful that he was being this generous at all. Katsuya felt that it was a very un-Kaiba-like thing to do.

"Okay, I'm off." He stated, then turned and left the office, since the CEO had already said the driver was waiting in the lobby.

On his way out past reception, he suddenly had the biggest urge to turn to Sasaki, poke his tongue out and say: "Nyh… I get to ride in a limousine and you don't!" But that would have been entirely childish of him.

Maybe he'd flaunt it a bit more professionally later, once he'd gotten the job done.

* * *

Kaiba Corp.'s main office and place of operations was the tallest building in all of Domino City. Riding up in an elevator passing the seemingly endless floors, Katsuya was suddenly glad he didn't have an issue with heights. He had other issues, mainly concerning ghosts and other relatively spooky things (which, quite frankly, scared the shit out of him), but heights had never been much of a problem.

The car ride over had been extremely fun. He'd sat in Kaiba's limousine before, but this time he was alone, and certainly was not about to waste the opportunity to test every button, open every case, and look inside every crevice the car had whilst on his way. If the driver had noticed, which he could only assume he had since Katsuya had lowered and raised the window between them countless times, constantly having to go over the buttons again because they all looked the same it was easy to forget what they all did, he didn't mention anything. In fact, when Katsuya had finally arrived and thanked the driver profusely for taking him all the way over here, he had responded with: "My pleasure sir," and gave him a rather large genuine smile. Jou had probably provided ample amusement for the trip. The driver then said he would still be waiting down here for Katsuya once he returned with Kaiba-sama's report. He had needed to resist the urge to salute, before going to enter the building.

The elevator stopped on the third to top floor. Katsuya was, by this point, the only one still in there, so stepped out alone and gazed around the immediate vicinity. It's so posh, he thought. The space he'd stepped into put his own office to shame. It was clearly better designed, equipped, formatted… Dark colours were all around him, but it only helped to make the atmosphere appear clean and professional. Even the pot plants seemed to scream: "Money! We have lots of it!" He half-expected some doves to come flying past out of nowhere, and to turn around a corner and see a fountain.

Luckily Kaiba wasn't that insane.

He was snapped out of his reverie as someone spoke to him. "Hello?" The voice inquired politely.

He turned to where the young women stood, coming out of another doorway which led to goodness knows where, and who appeared to be on her way back to her office. She was carrying a coffee mug which had bright purple flowers on it, so perhaps she had just been on a break?

"Uh.. Hi." Visions of his first time walking into Shichi Corporation flooded back to him, he had felt completely out of place there too. As if on cue, another staff member exited from a nearby office and walked past him on their way to the elevator. Katsuya caught the disapproving wrinkle of the man's brow as he spied the young adult. He didn't waste any time in closing the doors of the lift and descending to a different floor.

Apparently the other woman, however, wasn't in a rush. She was still standing watching him with an almost dopey look on her face, as if she had never seen anything like him before.

Katsuya suddenly realized how quiet this office was compared to his own. Whereas back at Shichi there were at least some cubicles alongside each other and people could chat intermittently whilst they worked, here there were glass walls and doors that blocked one person from the next. There were _some_ visible desks and complementing chairs, but at present no one seemed to be occupying them.

"So, can I help you with something?" She asked pleasantly, deciding to break the somewhat awkward silence that had erupted once the other man had exited his office. He looked at her with unexpected relief, realizing that if she hadn't been around he might have spent forever trying to find Kaiba's office. Which was where he assumed the report would be.

"Yes actually, I'm looking for Kaiba Seto's office?"

The young woman, who had taken a sip of her coffee whilst he spoke, blinked back at him. "I'm sorry, but he's actually not here right now."

"Ah, I know. I'm meant to pick something up for him."

She frowned, looking like she was considering whether to trust him or not. Did Kaiba normally have random people try to come into his office and steal reports? Katsuya wondered. Don't know why anyone would bother, the only thing worth stealing would be his bank card, and I'm sure he keeps his money on him at all times, he thought.

"Uh… I'm his assistant?" Katsuya tried.

Her frown faded immediately and was replaced with a gigantic smile, "Really? Me too!" She practically bounced. Her voice had become so shrill on the last statement that Katsuya found himself almost wincing. She all but skipped over to him, "You must be Jonouchi-kun then!"

A few thousand questions popped into his head. They all tumbled over each other in an effort to gain a place in his mouth. The main contestants included: "_You're_ Kaiba's assistant?", "Are you this bubbly around him too?" and "Jonouchi-_kun_!?"

However what made it out was, "You know who I am?" He looked suitably perplexed.

"Yes." She nodded, still smiling.

"Uh.. how?"

"Kaiba mentioned you,"

He what?

"Something about having to put up with two annoying assistants nowadays..."

Katsuya raised his eyebrow, that statement clearly insulted them both, but she didn't seem fazed by it at all. He decided then and there: she was definitely a weird kind of insane.

Seto, on the other hand, would have been impressed at her ability to remember this fact, considering her track record in the field.

Katsuya decided to break where that train of thought was leading. Her weird personality was starting to get to him and he absently wondered why Kaiba would have hired someone so… clearly contrarily different to himself (Katsuya himself didn't count, Kaiba had been given no choice on that one). "So, I'm here to pick up a report." He prodded, remembering that The Car was still waiting for him downstairs. Down _many_ stairs.

Thank God for elevators.

"Oh right. Come this way, I'll show you where it is."

She turned and bounced away quickly down a corridor and he hastened to follow behind her. Kaiba's office was not very far at all, and from the outside looked just as up-market and posh and the rest of the floor and building. The assistant even had her own large desk with computer and phone outside it. He felt an odd pang of jealousy – he wanted a computer too, damnit! Although, he would have no practical use for one since all he did was store files and answer the odd phone and re-stock fax machines all day. Still, it was human nature to want after something you didn't really need.

He dismissed the thoughts, "Thanks, uh…?" He smiled at her, pleased she had been so inviting. She had already walked over to her desk and was in the process of seating herself behind it. The desk itself had a large back to it, and it almost hid her entirely from view.

"Niita." She supplied helpfully, "But you can call me Niita-chan if you want to?"

"Uh, I'd rather not." She was _older_ than he was!

This didn't seem to faze her either, "Ah, I understand. Well, Jonouchi-kun, the report should be on Kaiba's desk inside there." She pointed to the double doors that lead to his office, just in case Katsuya was blind.

She does realize it's rude to call me that, right? Katsuya thought, a little irritated at the implication that he was a little kid again. On the other hand, she did ask me to call her 'chan', so maybe she is just immature?

At any rate, she was confusing the heck out of him. No one could be that happy and ignorant and slightly annoying all at the same time. It was like the perfect combination of personality to be used as a minor character in a horror film, the kind that gets killed off first after they decide to wander off alone in the old abandoned mental asylum…

He turned to the doors and pushed one open, letting himself in. His eyes widened as he gazed around the office, if he'd thought Nobita's had been large, Kaiba's could have eaten it for breakfast. It was easily twice the size, probably a lot larger than that but Katsuya had never exactly been enthralled by knowledge about room spans. Everything inside was so modern – the chairs and desk and bookcases were all so sleek and designer. They were made with a kind of 'classic' feel about them, however, and it helped to take a sort of sharp edge off the rooms' appearance. There was something inviting about the sophistication of it all, and despite himself Katsuya let out a whistle of approval. He was not exactly sure _what _he had expected Kaiba's office to look like, but he had not thought he would be impressed at any rate.

Before he even realized it he had already walked into the middle of the room. Taking one last three hundred and sixty degree gaze around he finally settled on Kaiba's desk. It was helpfully clean. Only a few pieces of paper on it, and most of them were single sheets so it was easy to tell which one was the multi-paged presentation. Aside from the minor clutter of this, there was also a phone and an extremely modern computer system. The desk itself was huge, so there was also ample room to spread out other items across the desk and if cleared would have a vast space to work on. There were pens, note paper, a stapler, and a lot of other normal office things. He had a sudden urge to rummage through Kaiba's drawers, and was seriously considering whether to do so or not when the phone rang. He reflexively moved to pick it up then remembered where he was, so he waited for the other assistant, Niita, to answer it.

And waited.

Then waited some more.

He _knew_ she was sitting right outside, damnit! And she had a phone! He could hear it ringing from in here. What was wrong with her? He waited for two more rings then finally couldn't handle it anymore. His arm dashed out and picked up the receiver from Kaiba's desk, not caring if he would be annoyed with him for this action or not.

"Uh.. Kaiba's office?" Upon reflection he realized that sounded completely pathetic, especially since it had come out more as a question that implied he wasn't even sure of the fact himself, than a statement as to confirm the place the person had been calling.

The caller paused, then,

"…Mutt?"

Katsuya blinked. "What the hell are _you_ calling for? Shouldn't you be in a meeting?"

"I _am_ in a meeting."

"So why are you calling _me?_"

"I _wasn't_ calling you!" Kaiba sounded extremely frustrated. Katsuya was confused but happy that he was annoying the other boy.

"Sounds like ya're to me."

"Why the hell would I be calling you?!"

"I'm not sure. You want to chat?"

He heard something that sounded like a growl. "Hardly. I wanted to speak to someone else. Who _should_ have been the one to answer the phone." The last statement sounded as if it was meant more to himself than Katsuya.

"Niita?"

"Yes. I wanted to check you'd picked up the report, and that it was on its way."

"Can't trust me to get the job done right for a minute, can you?"

"Not as far as I could throw you."

"I don't know why she didn't answer. I could swear she was still out there…"

"Typical." It was more of a mutter.

"You know Kaiba, your assistant is really…"

"Annoying?"

Katsuya couldn't help himself, let out a laugh at the blatancy and sarcasm in the other's voice. A moment later he clasped a hand over his mouth in shock. Had he just laughed at a joke from the CEO? Okay, that had certainly never happened before. Freaky.

There was a silence, and both boys reflected how weird that had felt.

"I have to get back to my meeting. Just make sure you get me that report." Kaiba broke in, then abruptly hung up, not giving Katsuya a chance to reply.

Rude. He thought automatically before remembering just who it was he had been speaking to. He slammed his own receiver back down, snatched up the report and quickly left the office. He didn't have time to snoop around now, since Kaiba knew he was there already and would now be expecting him back quickly.

Niita _was_ sitting outside at her desk, just as she had been before, but this time she had the head phones of a music player in her ears. Although he found it a little difficult to believe that she was so deaf she couldn't hear the phone that was sitting right next to her elbow when it was ringing, it was the only solution that presented itself.

We waved a hand to get her attention. At the sight of him she brightened immediately and took her head phones out, giving him her full consideration.

"I'll be off then." He raised the report to indicate that the main stage of his mission was complete.

"Cheerio!" She smiled broadly and gave him a little wave as he walked away.

Maybe she's not all that bad, he thought, but doesn't Kaiba get annoyed that she doesn't answer his phones? He shrugged it off, not his problem in any case. Now he just had the limo ride back to look forward to.

* * *

It was an hour later, or maybe a bit longer, that Seto finally left his meeting and in the short break between the first and the second hurried back to his office to see whether the mutt had pulled through for him. Lucky for Jonouchi, really, that he had, otherwise Seto was sure he would have fired him.

The boy had left it neatly on his desk, and although he himself wasn't around anymore Seto hadn't exactly expected him to be – it was after 5 o'clock now and that meant Jonouchi had finished for the day. He picked up the precious document and slipped it into his briefcase, now feeling a lot better about the upcoming dinner. It hadn't occurred to him to cancel it, as that would have been extremely impolite because of the late notice, so he would have had to have done his best without it. But actually having the presentation in his hands let him develop his confidence once again, and he made his way out of the building striding as purposefully as he normally did.

The association the report now had with his new assistant brought his mind back to Jonouchi all over again. Seto reflected on the past week and had to admit, despite himself, that it hadn't been as exasperating as he had anticipated it would be. He had expected the mutt to be a complete pain up the ass, and even for them to be as argumentative as they always had been. But the fact was that Jonouchi was actually agreeing to do things instead of disputing exactly why it was Kaiba needed something done, and this was actually very helpful. Although only what one should come to expect of an assistant.

And that made Seto… well, not happy exactly, but it made him feel better about the whole situation.

Huh… as if _he_ needed to feel better.

He had realized that afternoon, after it was Jonouchi who had answered the phone not Niita, that he was actually slightly more dependable than she was. Lord only knows why the situation had developed that way, knowing Niita she had probably been too engrossed in a game of computer solitaire to bother with answering the phone.

It was an interesting development in any case, Seto thought as he ducked to get inside his car. But for the moment he needed to concentrate on his dinner, his corporate appearance, and Jonouchi's report.

_His _report. Not Jonouchi's.

Then he could think about all the other minor details that seemed to endlessly plague him whilst he continued to run his company.

* * *

Thanks for reading! I know this chapter was completely lame. I apologize. Please Review Anyway! I appreciate it yes I do. See you next time 


	7. Adversity

A/N: Fear my over-used plot lines! Bah, this fic is a comedy, I'm allowed to put them into stereotypical situations. Why? Because it amuses me if no one else. Besides, if I get an opportunity to try my hand at something classic and write it in my own inane style I'm damn well gonna try it.

3 You Guys!

Etsuyo

Disclaimer: Characters, worlds, people, games, and everything else is owned by and copyrighted Kazuki Takahashi. This is a non-for-profit fan work with no particular personal gain in mind. I own the writing and nothing else.

* * *

It was particularly cold. The kind of cold that had you rushing to put a shirt on in the morning and dreading ever stepping out of your front door. The kind of cold that was usually accompanied by intermittent rain, or wind that never failed to mess your hair up so completely that by the time you got to work you looked like you had just gotten out of bed and all your mornings preparation had come to nothing. Katsuya had never been a fan of the 'drenching season' as Shizuka had referred to it when they were younger. A little rain was fine, when it was outside and you were inside, but when it chose to rain _only_ when you were walking and then stopped once you reached shelter, well, it got old fast. As a result he was somewhat adverse to it. Coincidently Seto didn't like rain either but Katsuya didn't know that so couldn't have added it to the list of 'things I am finding I have more in common with Satan than I had previously thought.'

On days like these people seemed to take the bad weather as a sign that the world was against them, and realized that they hadn't been doing enough complaining lately.

"I hate the rain. I wish it would stop." People would say, even though if it _didn't_ rain the crops would dry up and they wouldn't have anything to eat.

"Why is it always so dreary!" They would exclaim, referring to the way the heavily watered clouds darkened the sky, disregarding the fact that yesterday it had been sunny.

"My washing is soaked! This rain is horrible…" One would mutter, neglecting to consider that if it didn't rain they'd all die of thirst.

Katsuya would usually nod and agree with them along with everyone else. You were considered quite odd indeed if it began to pour and you suddenly cracked a huge smile and proclaimed: "Yay! Rain!"

Of course when Yugi did it, it was just cute.

Katsuya walked into work that Saturday cursing and grumbling and being altogether entirely annoyed with everything. All good things, and all bad things, came in threes. At least that was a philosophy Honda had heard from someone-or-other. In Katsuya's case they were bad things. Never mind the terrible coldness the day had presented him with, he had been woken up with a phone call from his sister. Normally this would have been a notch on the 'good things' list, but today she had been the bearer of bad news. Their mother was supposed to be coming back to Domino for a conference that was to last two days, and after much begging Shizuka had finally been allowed to tag along, since there was no way she would ever have been able to afford the trip on her own part time salary. Apparently, however, the conference had over-booked on speakers and their mother's appearance was no longer needed. Shizuka, by association, would not be coming.

The second thing was that not one but two umbrellas had broken on his way to work. Before he had even boarded his first train the umbrella he had been using for over a year now got knocked about by a frantic crowd and crumpled beyond hope of ever being useful again. Knowing he was going to be extremely soaked without one, Katsuya invested in a second umbrella from a Hundred Yen store that was located in between train changes. He had almost made it all the way to work when a particularly strong gust of wind took the new investment by surprise. The cheap replacement didn't even stand a chance against the forces of bad Karma. It was rendered useless in seconds, and Katsuya found himself suddenly at the full mercy of the elements once again.

He had run the rest of the way, but still got extremely wet. And so he stood in all his dripping splendor slowly destroying the carpets of Shichi Corporation's reception area. Sasaki, by some sixth sense he imagined, always knew it was him. Which meant she never looked up when he arrived since greeting someone as lowly as Katsuya didn't even feature on her list of things she planned to do in her lifetime. He always greeted her on the other hand, although today's; "Hello Sasaki-san" was said with a distinct air of weariness. All he could think was, 'What will be the third thing?' whilst all manner of possible misfortunes played through his mind.

He had almost made it past her when she suddenly spoke to him. This was most peculiar.

"Wait. Need you to get onto something," her voice crisp and snappy like it normally was whenever she graced him with her conversation.

He turned, and his hair sprayed water in a circular pattern all around him. Sasaki visibly flinched at the development. He noted that she was remarkably dry, but also that this was not exactly surprising. There was no way in hell a woman like Sasaki was about to let a drop of water on her perfectly pressed clothes. Rain knew better than to fall on her whilst she was walking to work. No telling what she might do if her neat attire was tarnished by something as inconsiderate as water.

"Yes?" He asked, trying to emphasize his desire to find a towel.

She motioned to the corner behind her large reception desk. Someone had placed a stepladder, a hammer, some nails, an electric drill, and a screwdriver just out of sight of those merely passing by. Katsuya certainly would not have spotted them if he was not pointedly searching for them.

"Ah…" He started, a worried look passing over his face. Why was it assumed that if you were a man you knew how to use tools and had the skills of a hired contractor? No matter what it was she asked him to do, he was pretty sure it was going to be above his level. I mean, just because I'm an assistant doesn't mean they can ask me to do anything! He thought, a little annoyed. Fetching baguettes is one thing but building bookcases is another.

…

Building bookcases?

"After the power black out last night there was a number of electrical surges…"

He knew they were probably short staffed with all the lay-offs he was assuming Kaiba was having fun with, but this was just ridiculous!

"…a good number of light bulbs need to be replaced. Also, the larger storage room that was being painted has now been finished. But the company put the wrong hinges on the door so it needs to be propped open until someone can fix it, otherwise it'll close on you. They also ordered the wrong door handle so at present it doesn't have one."

That was stupid.

"I just love death traps at the office." He said, sighing contentedly.

She glared at him, "This isn't funny. Just change the globe in there and then fix the rest of them." She turned back to her work with a scowl, her part of the conversation completed.

"Fine fine fine." Katsuya waved a hand at her dismissively, and walked away to tackle the more immediate problem of getting dry. It could wait; he had to take care of files and whatever else Moneybags wanted first.

* * *

Mokuba had told him that both good things and bad things came in threes. Seto had rolled his eyes but hadn't ignored his brother. Theoretically, as good things went, he was due for one more.

It had been three and a half weeks since Yahada's accident, and he had only just arrived back in Domino. However that morning he had made a phone call to the office and told Seto that he was able to come back to work on Monday, and Seto had informed him that they could talk about Shichi Corporation's developments then. The news had been particularly good, since Seto was eager to get the ball rolling again on the whole affair after nearly a month of stagnation. He did feel, however, that he wouldn't be able to install Yahada immediately into the company, working here had given him a chance to see that simply inserting someone new and saying; "Well, goodluck!" whilst waving and walking out the door in the opposite direction was going to be more detrimental to his plans that he had first thought. He'd need to wean Yahada in, making sure to get everything worked out properly so he would not have to repeat the last four weeks. Or however much longer this all took.

The second good thing, coincidently, had been another phone call. Apparently Niita had come down with a terrible cold as a result of the weather. She didn't think she would be able to make it in today. Her doctor said she should take at least a weeks worth of rest, but she had reassured Seto that this would not be the case, that she would be fine and back to work on Monday (he normally had Sunday's off, so she did too). Seto had immediately disagreed with her, saying that he thought no doctor had ever given better advice. She had begrudgingly agreed to give it until at least Wednesday.

Seto didn't think he had ever been this fortunate.

He wouldn't be surprised if nothing 'good' happened to him for years now, but in Mokuba's theory he still had one more thing to get. However silly sayings and fortunes had never held Seto's interest, and certainly, he knew, had no basis in fact. He had just happened to receive two promising phone calls that morning. If nothing else this would cheer him up considerably for the rest of the day.

Of course, this cheery mood was not actually reflected in the attitude Seto wore on a daily basis. He had a very good mask of calm-yet-easily-irritated that not many other people could pull off quite as well. So if he had actually had a great morning, like today, no one was able to tell. (Conversely, if he had had a terrible morning people were usually able to tell a little easier. You were more likely to be fired for sneezing, say, than on one of Kaiba's good days, during which you were fired for finishing off the coffee in the machine).

Seto, furthermore, wasn't fazed that he had an extremely busy Saturday ahead of him. He was reaching the stage where he couldn't quite work out how he was actually going to fit it all into the eight hours he was provided with. But he knew, from experience, that it was all just a matter of doing one thing at a time. And having a lackey do something else at the _same_ time, which got two things done at once. Which was ultimately more productive than doing one thing at a time by yourself.

He loved being able to boss people around.

* * *

Since he could no longer openly yell at Kaiba, throw a fist in his direction or swear violently at the top of his lungs, cursing every ancestor the CEO had, Katsuya had reverted to different methods of loathing that would, hopefully, still get the message across. Namely, his wit had to shake itself together and step up a bit, and use all of its power to make smart, underhanded and off the cuff remarks at Kaiba whenever they crossed paths. Although Kaiba was much more used to this then Katsuya was, who preferred dealing rebuttal in the form of a kick to the groin, it was the last resort for the college boy who needed to find some way in which to handle the hours working with someone he, on principle, hated the very mention of. This meant that Kaiba usually won their verbal arguments; although Katsuya was not about to readily admit this to anyone else.

Silently fuming from a recent vocal defeat (if you asked him, however, he would argue he withdrew for a timeout), Katsuya stalked down the hall and back to the reception area. He couldn't hit Kaiba, but he _could _get to work on 'Sasaki's project'.

He picked up a hammer and grinned at it in a rather maniac kind of way, glancing over at the nails on the step ladder and imagining every one of them turning into miniature Kaiba's. Suddenly a lot more enthusiastic for the task, he politely asked Sasaki where it was he needed to hammer.

Not quite understanding his new found eagerness, but deciding that like everything else about Jonouchi, she didn't like it, Sasaki sighed and explained what needed to be done. Before she had even finished he took off with hammer and nails down the hall and out of sight remembering after a few moments to shout back; "Thankyou!"

She sniffed in disapproval and then continued on with her work.

* * *

About ten minutes after sitting down again someone started banging on his door. He was about to yell irritably, "Just come in already!" When he realized it wasn't _that_ kind of banging that was going on. It sounded less like someone was knocking with the hope of gaining entrance than throwing a hammer against the door in the hopes that it would fall down.

Seto, applying his 'daggers of death' glare, got up and strode to the door, not waiting for a pause in the hammering to grasp the door handle and swing the door right open. He would later agree that in hindsight, this was not the best course of action he could have taken. The hammer he had suspected as the cause of the ruckus, on being unable to hit his door, came flying through the air into the space _behind_ the door. Just where Kaiba happened to be standing.

Seto never would have forgiven himself if he had gotten a broken nose from a hammer wielded by Jonouchi. It was entirely lucky for him that he had both the presence of mind and the reflexes to avoid such a terrible fate. The hammer, therefore, connected with the air to the side of his right ear, stopping its movements only after Jonouchi's forearm was blocked by Kaiba's shoulder.

The hammer quickly withdraw to the other side of the door. Jonouchi, he noted, looked more than slightly disappointed.

"Hey! I'm hammering here!" He said, and being Jonouchi wasn't able to hide his happiness behind the irritated statement. Clearly he was having a lot of fun disrupting Kaiba.

"I can hear that." Seto glared, feeling that he would have liked very much to take the hammer and make it collide with the other boy's temple.

"Then what's your problem?"

"It's annoying me. Stop it."

"'Fraid that's not possible. Gotta nail your new name to your door." And he actually looked totally thrilled about it too.

Seto had gotten someone to remove Nobita's nameplate from the door weeks ago, but didn't recall ordering a new one.

"I don't recall ordering a new one." He said with annoyance, especially one with _his_ name on it since he did not intend to make his stay permanent. He would always own this company of course, but that did not mean he wanted to work here.

"Sorry, can't help you there." Jonouchi said in a somewhat dismissive voice, turning back to the task at hand and holding a nail up to the door experimentally, like a construction worker informing a property owner that sorry we forgot to build on that fourth bedroom you asked for but there was really nothing to be done about it now.

Seto pondered the development for a moment. Then his glare deepened, "Niita." He hissed her name in the kind of way someone would swear under their breath. He wished just once she would go out of her way to do something useful instead of something entirely counter productive.

BANG.

The knock of the hammer brought him back to reality. It also brought a nail right through the office door. The right side of the plate was now secured into the wood, the left side hanging down but waiting to be nailed into place.

Having no other assistants to glare at, he took to glaring at Jonouchi again; who was still hammering the same nail. He couldn't help but feel that this was entirely illogical.

"What are you doing? That nail is already poking out of the other side."

"Just got to make sure it's secure." Mainly he liked how the sound annoyed Kaiba.

"Well why, for instance, aren't you using a drill? It would take two seconds with one."

"Perhaps they don't have a drill?" They did. It had been sitting next to the hammer.

"If you hammer anymore, the hole will be the size of the hammer."

"I know what I'm doing." He'd never used a hammer before in his life, it was a miracle he hadn't broken a finger yet.

"You're pissing me off is what you're doing."

"Yes I am."

"Jonouchi…"

"Kaiba."

Seto suddenly reached out and grabbed the hammer from the blonde's grasp. Jonouchi hadn't exactly expected Kaiba to do this, not usually one for physically butting into things, and so it left his hand without much protest. He wished he'd had a little more time to ready himself for that.

They glared at each other.

"Find something else to do." Then he slammed the door in Jonouchi's face.

* * *

Katsuya had decided that something better to do would be to start on the light bulb fixing problem, however he had hardly finished on the first one (it took him awhile to grasp the concept of how it was meant to work) before he got called back into Kaiba's temporary office.

"You reconsidered?" Katsuya grinned.

"No. I'm going across town for the afternoon. I'm very busy so I need you to cover my phone." Katsuya was almost shocked that Kaiba would entrust him with such a task, especially since he had, only a short while ago, been annoying the hell out of the CEO. Usually he got his office phone to divert to his mobile, so he concluded that Kaiba really must have been that busy, and didn't want any interruptions.

Katsuya, as usual, wasn't exactly in a position to say no. And to be honest, answering the phone had the potential of being more interesting than the endless filing and distribution he seemed to be doing. Fixing broken lights was interesting too, but he felt more equipped to handle a phone than a screwdriver.

"Uh… right?" He watched Kaiba get up quickly and recover his belongings from about the room with all haste. "That's it? Just answer the phone?"

Kaiba paused long enough to throw him a look that implied he'd never heard a question more idiotic in his life. "Yes. Just answer the phone. Do the rest of things you normally do. Use your initiative." He made it sound like giving his assistant instructions was the most tiresome thing he could possibly have imagined doing.

"Fine." Katsuya frowned. He wasn't even sure if Kaiba heard him, as not more than a second later the brunet swept out of the office, pulling the door closed behind him.

As the other one's footsteps echoed down the hallway and faded out, the scene finally fell silent. He stared around the lifeless office, for the first time since his initial meeting with Nobita at a loss for what to occupy himself with. However he was met with the odd feeling of being so out of place that it was just wrong for him to be here at all. He was the sole occupant of the large office and had been instructed to take care of it. But it just felt so out of his league. Although Katsuya had always adopted an attitude of; "Anything Kaiba can do I can do Better", this last month and a half had opened his eyes to the possibility that maybe there was just _one_ thing that Kaiba was _slightly_ better at. He could console himself, however, with the fact that he had never, even in his most dull and uninspired dreams, thought to place is future in the business and corporate world. This was a temporary part time job to get him through university, that was all.

Steeling himself again, he went to tackle the problem of what to do next to break the eerie silence in the office. There were the light bulbs, of course, but (and he rather let himself grin internally at this) Kaiba had told him that he needed to look after the phone. And so do that he would. This would naturally involve sitting at Kaiba's desk and spending the time not taking down phone notices going through any of his boss's things he hadn't thought to take with him to wherever it was he had been going to.

Feeling it a positive step in what was perhaps not the _right _direction per say, but a fun direction in any case, Katsuya pulled back the leather office chair and sat himself down in it with a mighty "plonk".

Then, as no one was looking, he indulged by spinning around in it just once. Because he could.

In reality most people were kids at heart, they were just too afraid to admit it.

* * *

About mid-afternoon the rain decided it'd had enough of playing around and took up permanently residency in the Domino City skies. As a bonus it also started to thunder, and lightening could be spotted occasionally in the distance. It did nothing to cheer Katsuya's mood which had been consistently dark since his two 'bad things' that morning. In the back of his mind he was still waiting for the ultimate disaster to occur. He figured he could probably count Kaiba as a walking disaster himself, and the fact that Katsuya needed to see him at all was one of the worst bad things he could imagine, however the way the 'three things' deal had been described inferred that the things had to be stand alone events. Katsuya saw Kaiba at least three times a week, so unfortunately he didn't count.

Then there was also the possibility that the lightning would wreck any new bulbs he might have attempted to install, so he used this as an excuse not to tackle the task at all. You hardly noticed they weren't working unless you happened to be standing in the storage room (as it was the smallest room on the floor), and most people usually weren't.

After the slow start to the afternoon in which Katsuya had amused himself by rifling through Kaiba's things – a bag he had left, the desk drawers, the computers files that weren't code locked – the rate of incoming calls had steadily picked up to the point where he was actually having to put people on hold until he could finish another conversation and get back to them. This was probably a good development since previously mentioned rifling had produced very little to be interested with. The most he had found was a goofy picture of Mokuba at Christmas time which he suspected Kaiba might have been keeping for blackmail purposes. He was distinctly disappointed not to uncover secret company plans for world domination, or, to a lesser extent, Kaiba's hidden stash of porn on his hard drive (which _had_ to exist on the principle that everyone else believed it did so that made it true). Not that Katsuya ever wanted to entertain the notion in a situation other than laughing about the idea with his friends.

Katsuya was finding that he was dishing out the same few answers to every question people had called him with, no matter what it had been. For the first hour or so he had needed to turn away people looking for appointments or wanting to know when Kaiba would be free to call back, but once he discovered the CEO's supposed timetable somewhere amongst the C drive, Katsuya found these easier to handle. He realized at some point that he must have been portraying Kaiba being a lot freer then what his clients were used to, as many of them seemed shocked that Katsuya was openly admitting that he would be in his office all day Tuesday, he had a free afternoon Wednesday, his lunch meeting for Friday could be rescheduled…

Maybe Kaiba was normally busier?

But he was beginning to have a small inclination that the business world was about _appearing_ busy, rather than literally filling up ones roster with things to do.

There was also the very common response on finding Kaiba was not there and would not be back for awhile; what other numbers could I contact him with? As a result Katsuya found he knew Kaiba's alternate office number better than he did his own house phone. With a feeling of protectorship he found he really couldn't explain, he had decided not to dish out the CEO's mobile number, although he had discovered it. Kaiba had said he was busy and he suspected these people would be calling his alternate number as soon as they set down the phone with him. Katsuya didn't want to get fired because they harassed him and would probably let slip that his 'helpful' assistant had given them the number.

Then there were the more memorable calls of the afternoon. He had received a conversation from an animal rights group who had claimed that Kaiba Corp. treated their test subjects unfairly. Katsuya could not help but question which subjects they were referring to as, he carefully reiterated, Kaiba Corp. was a gaming company so all road testing was done with humans. The rights movement spokesperson had mumbled something almost incoherent before hanging up abruptly.

Then there had been two calls from what appeared to be dating agencies. Kaiba's single status was a burden to himself, they explained, and were wondering if he wanted any help? Katsuya had been strongly inclined to book them an appointment when he realized that might have been really pushing his future job prospects. He did silently make a mental note to tease Kaiba about this later.

A crazy old woman had called asking for Pete. He had considered _pretending_ to be Pete and finding out what she wanted, but then another call came through so he gave up on the idea. Several people had called to complain about faulty products and this led him on an office-wide search for the technical support number. Someone had called to ask about prices in their latest swim suit catalogue, and he had been forced to confess that as far as he knew they didn't actually sell them.

He was, by this point, confused as to why Shichi Corporation didn't have a better phone filtering service in place. Although seemingly random phone calls concerning the price of Rhubarbs in a local grocery store _did_ cut into the tedium of having to repeat alternate phone numbers or imply, once again, that Kaiba was out on business.

Once the pace of calls picked up the afternoon progressed rather quickly. The current weather conditions were actually rather interesting when they weren't accompanied by ghost stories or involved him being under a tree during a lightning strike. However the afternoon _was_ getting on, and by the time he began to see other people from the office packing up and heading home, he started getting annoyed.

His sense of duty and 'seeing things through to the end' was in this case rather more of a burden. He checked the clock every five seconds it seemed but time just kept ticking away. Katsuya was sure Kaiba had only said he'd be gone for the afternoon, which implied he'd be coming back for the evening, right? He was in no way worried about the other man, simply extremely annoyed that he had likely already gone home and simply not bothered to tell Katsuya that he could finish for the day.

Five fifteen appeared, and by this point very few people were left at all. Stubbornly he decided to wait until six at the latest. That was when Sasaki finished in any case, and he felt that would be giving Kaiba adequate time to get back here so he could yell at him for being late.

He answered a few more phone calls, even though it was now technically after hours, before finally setting it up to go straight to voice mail. He tapped his fingers on the desk impatiently.

Suddenly… finally… the door opened, and in walked Kaiba, his shoes soaked and splotches of rain on his jacket. His hair still seemed to be perfect, Katsuya reflected distractedly.

"Time consuming afternoon, huh?" Because 'You're late' made him sound like an irritated housewife.

Kaiba didn't say anything but grunted something affirmative, paying more attention to putting his umbrella away.

Katsuya decided to try a different tack.

"Your phone wouldn't stop ringing. It's insane how many people call you."

"Yes, Niita isn't there today so all of her calls were forwarded to you. Thanks."

Thanks?

Katsuya's head snapped up and he blinked at the CEO. Had Kaiba gone out to get high or something? He was _thanking_ him. Something must have been wrong.

"Uh…" He started.  
But Kaiba had obviously either not noticed the slip or had dismissed it and moved on already.

"I'm going to need you to work a bit later tonight."

Katsuya almost gaped, throwing out a final life line; "You know, traditionally you ask someone for a favor _before_ they actually do it."

Kaiba didn't falter, "I am." He left the rest up to Katsuya to figure out.

Jou glared, "But it's already 5:30!" That sounded a bit whiney but he didn't particularly care.

Kaiba sounded exasperated, "You'll be _paid_ for it. Actually that's extremely generous of me considering."

"Huh. Somehow I doubt that." If he'd been honest with himself, he might have actually thought Kaiba was right. Many people he knew worked overtime without pay. If they didn't they lost their jobs. However when it came to conversing with Kaiba it was mandatory to disagree with him on every aspect, no matter what it was. Katsuya would have never forgiven himself otherwise.

Kaiba managed to spare him one of those: 'don't argue with me' glares, before finally straightening up, walking to his desk, and giving him his full attention. "You're in my seat, mutt."

Katsuya decided glaring back was an appropriate course of action. It seemed about all their arguments could amount to these days.

He vacated the chair, but took his time; "Right." Pointedly Kaiba sat down in it again once Katsuya had reached the other side of the desk.

"Why am I working overtime?" He continued, ready to argue the point if he thought it sounded too weak.

"I need you to put these away," He reached into his bag and extracted a pile at least 20 centimeters thick of paper, "And find me a number of files and case studies before tomorrow."

"Why can't you do that yourself?"

"Because I need to finish _this_ paper work." Kaiba emphasized the word by dragging out a slightly less thick wad of paper from the hopefully empty bag.

"Now scoot." He made a shooing motion with his hand to dismiss Katsuya, who growled in annoyance, once again unwittingly conforming to Kaiba's ever-present dog association. With much huffing and obvious show of irritation he snatched up the pile of documents and exited the room, making sure to slam the door loudly on his way out.

* * *

If time was money, he tried to convince himself he didn't mind spending a little extra time to make a little extra money. Although with the way the office was now empty, Sasaki making sure to give him one of her superior smirks before leaving at six, and most of the lights turned off since no one was really using them, the place felt damn spooky and Katsuya was more than ready to go home. He'd filed the papers as quickly as possible, pretty sure he'd misplaced one or two but not really caring, had dashed around trying to find the reports and case studies Kaiba had requested, and was now on his way back to Kaiba's office to dump them on his desk and leave… quick smart.

He wasn't really consoled by the fact that the other boy was working late too. Kaiba had chosen this life of late nights and paper work for himself. Vaguely Katsuya realized that he didn't often hear Kaiba complain about it. Maybe he did really enjoy it? This evening, for instance, rather than being annoyed about working over time, the way he had tackled the situation was with calm resolution. This would actually have been a very admirable quality, had Katsuya believed Kaiba possessed any.

Upon reaching said CEO's office, to his great annoyance he found, in literal terms, the lights on but nobody home. Frowning he placed the files on the desk, then went to find out where the other man had gotten to. He thought it was simply polite to announce that he was leaving, rather than just disappearing seemingly without warning.

He felt that yelling: "Kaiba! Kaiba!" to try and find the CEO was a rather embarrassing way of going about it, no matter how effective it actually might have been. Although knowing Kaiba he wasn't likely to yell out: "Here I am!" in response either. So Katsuya searched the office in relative silence. It was getting rather dark by this time of night, and his anxiety at finding the other boy grew accordingly. He wanted to get home, damnit. Home to his nice warm apartment so he could eat and sleep and avoid doing some well-needed study.

And another thing… who kept putting chairs right in the middle of the hall!? This had to be at least the fourth time he'd crashed into one in the semi-darkness now. Was _everyone_ at Shichi Corporation an un-coordinated untidy compulsive inconveniently-placed-chair leaver?

Evidence would suggest this was the case.

He raged mentally as he grabbed the latest rouge chair and moved it out of the way. He realized he'd probably been a bit _too _violent with it, as it made a loud crash against what could possibly have been a filing cabinet, or maybe some sort of bookcase. From what he could tell it was still standing in an upright position however. Hopefully what it had hit wouldn't be too dented…

"I always said you needed to take anger management classes."

Katsuya spun around. Nobody was there. Okay, as far as he knew he hadn't hit crazy yet, so he peeked around the open door on his right.

"There you are!" Although he didn't sound nearly as happy as the exclamation mark implied.

"You were looking for me?" Kaiba appeared sarcastically incredulous, "Did you miss me that much little puppy?"

With irritation Katsuya realized Kaiba wasn't even looking at him. He was browsing through a box of… something.

"What are you doing?" He folded his arms, now standing a few feet away from the CEO.

"Looking for a stapler. Mine has apparently gone missing."

Katsuya sniggered, "How can you even see in here? It's getting darker by the second! And the light is broken you know…"

"Of course I know, otherwise I would have switched it on." He had the air of someone pointing out something very obvious, such as when a toddler points at a small winged mammal usually found near water with a long bill and states: "duck."

But something in Jonouchi's statement made him stop what he was doing and pay a bit more attention to the situation. It _was _getting darker rather quickly.

"Jonouchi…" Seto spoke slowly and deliberately, implying, in this case, that he didn't really think he needed to clarify this because no one could possibly be that stupid but felt the need to ask anyway; "That crash I heard earlier wasn't you kicking away the chair that was the only thing keeping the storage room door open and not slowly closing in on itself, was it?"

The other boy's ensuing silence and the fact that when he had said it was getting darker by the second he had meant that literally, was not reassuring.

They both turned, ready to check on the situation, but realized quickly that it was already too late.

When it is twilight the world is dark, and darker still if one is sitting inside without the light of the moon above them. Although this is 'dark', if they were to close their eyes it is possible that the world, for them, will become even darker. Which makes a person with open eyes at night time consider that maybe that darkness is not so dark in contrast after all.

It was because of this kind of 'dark' that both Katsuya and Seto were able to actually see the door closing them in. Then, once it had closed with a very unsatisfying 'click', their world descended into what was extremely close to the second kind of darkness. The one that felt as if someone had just draped something over their eyes with the intent that they would not be able to see anymore. They had succeeded astoundingly.

Seto paused, "Fuck."

Katsuya would have reflected that this was the first time he had heard the other man swear properly in many many years, but that little fact really wasn't relevant at this precise moment. Calmly, Seto put the box he had been looking through back on the shelf where he remembered it was.

Katsuya's mind was working in over-drive. First he tried to recall exactly what Sasaki had said to him that morning. It seemed like weeks ago. One thing came irritatingly clearly to mind however; that they had removed the door handle, which meant that even if he could see, and even if he did happen upon a small wire, there was no way he could pick the lock. Something which he was actually rather good at. Secondly, upon confirming that he was trapped, his mind raced onwards to escape routes. There was no back door or hidden underground tunnel that he knew of, so that left option c.

"Uh… you have cleaners that come after hours and… clean. Right?" Katsuya had developed a kind of straining tone that implied he was trying desperately to keep his voice from raising a few octaves due to a panic attack.

"Yes." Seto responded smoothly, "But they clean in the mornings." He was doing his best not to let the same panic he was beginning to develop show through.

"Th…then what the hell do we do!?" Katsuya practically screeched, unknowingly right beside Seto's ear. He had lost it, it was too much, and he couldn't take it anymore. His entire _life_ seemed to be one giant 'bad thing'.

Seto winced and took a small step back and away from the potential of more explosion. "Calm down, your freaking out is getting on my nerves."

"Oh, _your_ nerves!? I don't give a _fuck_ about your nerves!" Katsuya needed someone to be angry at, to blame someone for his predicament. He'd always hated Kaiba, so it seemed a logical and happily available choice. The fact that he himself had been the one to kick the chair away was relatively inconsequential.

"Shut _UP._" Seto demanded, barely able to control his own temper, his voice rising at the provocation. "You yelling will get us absolutely nowhere, as there is no one around to hear it."

"You're right. _Of course_. So I'll just have to break the door down instead if no one will come to our rescue."

"You idiot, you can't just kick a door down. This is a storage door, they're meant to remain solidly closed!" He was also going to add that Jonouchi was a moron, and they could always just use a mobile phone to call for help; but the boy had already moved away and was, presumably, getting ready to try to open the door by force.

Without thinking Seto reached out his hand to stop Katsuya from the distinct possibility of breaking his leg. He even moved forward in what he assumed was a direction closer to the door.

Katsuya heard Kaiba's words but he ignored them, all doors were simply a matter of applying enough force and pressure and something about physics that he couldn't remember…

So once he'd felt the door in front of him with his finger tips, he leaned back, raised his right foot, and kicked as hard as he could.

Physics had never made much sense to Katsuya. So if Seto had begun to berate him about the laws of motion and why, by not taking them into consideration, he would hurt himself in his current frame of action, Katsuya would definitely have fallen asleep. And shortly after tried the kicking-door trick anyway.

Newton had three laws relating to motion: the first was that of inertia; that all objects would remain motionless unless provoked into moving and once moving would continue to move at the same rate until something either slows it down or stops it. In this case, Katsuya provoked his foot into moving and it continued to move until it was stopped by the solid wooden door.

The second law concerns that of acceleration. That is, "the acceleration of an object is proportional to the force applied, and inversely proportional to the mass of the object." Simply put, how much faster an object travels is dependant on how hard it was pushed, but hindered by how heavy it is. So if one had a twenty tonne square block of stone, even if someone pushed on it _really hard_, it still would probably not go very far. In this case Katsuya's foot didn't weight very much, and he was throwing it at the door with all his might, so it was in fact traveling _very fast_.

The third law of motion states that for every action, there is an equal but opposite reaction. So, if you push on something, that something will push back. Here the idea of mass comes in – if something pushing on something else (both with the same amount of force) weighs more than the second something, it will be able to move the second something.

So in this case, when Katsuya kicked the door, the door kicked him back. But because the door was heavier than Katsuya's foot, it 'pushed' back on Katsuya's foot harder than he was able to push the door.

Seto wondered why so many people thought Physics was hard to understand.

Thus, the door remained in place, and Katsuya ended up with his foot hurting. He was also thrown backwards with all the excess power the door had bestowed on him with its come-back, and the fact that he had been rendered off-balance. He didn't know how far away the shelves were, but he thought he came into contact with them sooner than expected. He dimly considered that they _couldn't_ have been the shelves because the shelves were concreted into the ground, and this shelf seemed to be moving backwards as well.

So, he deduced, the shelf must have been Kaiba.

* * *

Seto had tried to warn him that it wouldn't work. Didn't he specifically say that?! But then again, he wasn't exactly surprised that Jonouchi had ignored his advice. Wouldn't he have done the same thing in the reverse? He had subconsciously led himself over to the door as well in a last futile attempt to get the boy to stop the absurd action, but that, again, had seemed to back fire on him. Jonouchi had presumably lashed out at the door, and upon failing the attempt at freedom (somewhat given away but his sudden cry of pain and distinctly soundless response from the door itself) had suddenly fallen backwards, off balance and surprised, right on top of Seto. Who in his defense hadn't realized he had even been that close.

It would have looked very undignified if anyone had actually been able to see it. Katsuya's solid form hit Seto, who in turn was thrown completely off balance at the new development and fell right back into the shelves behind him.

His head hit the metal jutting out from the wall and he saw stars. Unfortunately they didn't provide sufficient lighting, and were gone a few moments later. It was almost like being hit in the back of the head with a lead pipe, the shelf was certainly thin enough. Seto vaguely threw out a hand to try and stop himself from falling further and possibly doing more damage to his skull, but the weight on top of him was still present and in motion. His hand didn't even get a chance to grip on the nearest secure object before he fell completely to the ground, the weight falling with him. Seto was dimly aware, and annoyed, to find that now there was pain in his tail bone as well.

He was lying at the bottom of the shelves, his shoulders still slightly propped up; something was falling onto his hair, and all he could think was that god his head was throbbing so painfully, that it near overloaded all of his other senses. He decided he needed to let go for a moment to give it all time to settle. So he blacked out.

* * *

Katsuya cried out as the pain shot from his foot right up his entire leg, and the shock and force of it sent him tumbling backwards into the CEO. He flung his arms out wildly to try and stop their descent but they were in the middle of the whole room, which was the only place where something _wasn't_. Suddenly he heard a loud crack, immediately followed by crashing of metal against metal. He assumed Kaiba had found the storage shelves. They kept falling but, finally, they reached the floor. Katsuya's foot was still throbbing painfully, so he felt the need to voice this out loud. He couldn't really think much further than that, much less decide to move.

However, when after a few moments he realized Kaiba hadn't moved in the slightest, or even made a sound, he began to get worried.

He shifted off of him as best he could, but soon found that trying to roll off to the side found him straight up against another wall of shelves. "Uh.. Kaiba?" Katsuya tried to keep the concern out of his voice.

No answer.

Katsuya shifted around, the pain re-pronouncing itself in his foot, so that he was as far away from Kaiba as possible (which, really, wasn't that far as the shelf was so close, so he was still almost fully in contact), and questioned him again.

There was a really long pause where everything took its time in becoming silent, and coupled with the darkness, it was just completely eerie.

_Oh God, he's dead. _

Katsuya started to panic again, imagining that if he could see Kaiba, there would be blood all over the back of his head. Maybe he hit something pointy? Oh shit, what if he hit a pen or something and it went straight through his skull!? Katsuya's imaginings were getting more and more unreasonable, as most panicked thoughts seemed to do.

_Impaled by a ball point pen. How ironic._

He wanted to reach out and shake the other boy, but Katsuya couldn't even see where he began. Plus, privately, he was a little worried about reaching out and touching something he really had no intention of going anywhere near.

…

Because in the dark there was all the possibility of his fingers going up Kaiba's nose rather than onto his shoulder to wake him.

A small noise punctuated the silence suddenly. It sounded like a groan, and it hadn't come from Katsuya. He was instantly relieved beyond what he knew he should have been, and a moment later he felt Kaiba's arm move slightly.

There was more noise as Kaiba moved again; Katsuya guessed his was raising a hand to his head. Then Kaiba swore. Then there was more silence.

Under the circumstances, Katsuya couldn't stand this. "Uh… are you okay?" He really, really, did not want to ask that. But he was the good guy, damnit, and even if _Kaiba_ was a heartless bastard, that didn't mean Katsuya had to be as well in a bad situation like this. His friends really were rubbing off on him…

"My head feels like it's been run over by a tractor." It was good to remember one's cynicism at all times.

"Well, if it's any consolation my leg feels about the same."

Seto made an odd noise which sounded something like a cross between a scoff and a sigh; "You idiot. Why couldn't you have just waited and I could have called for help? That's why people invented mobile phones, you brain dead dog."

Katsuya felt his face get hot, from the irritation at yet another insult (and when he had been so concerned a few moments ago as well!) and also because Kaiba was painfully right. It was only too obvious now that this would have been a much smarter move.

So he bit back his insults and protests and said simply; "So, do you _have_ your mobile phone on you?"

"Always." Seto replied from the dark. "Only, it's in a pocket that I think you are lying on."

"Oh." Katsuya felt a tug on the fabric beneath his left arm. He tried to move up and out of the way, but only succeeded in twisting himself half around so that he was even more uncomfortable than before, and not really managing to pull away from Kaiba that much at all. Seto could tell what he was doing, and knew that whatever it was really wasn't working. But his coat seemed to be a little freer, so he reached down to try to find his mobile.

"I'm not sure where the pocket has gotten to…" Seto muttered to himself, although Katsuya could hear it well enough, as he clutched at the empty fabric. Katsuya didn't say anything, but instead tried to search for the phone as well, he could guess the general direction it must have been in.

Their hands brushed together mid-search, and Katsuya involuntarily shivered. It was dark, and cold, he reminded himself. _Cold_. Thus the shivering.

Katsuya pulled his hands back, no longer willing to risk the exploration. Luckily, less than a second later Kaiba announced his triumph. He could hear the phone being extracted from the pocket, and in another moment Kaiba had flipped it open.

Blue light engulfed the room, and Katsuya blinked stupidly for a moment, wondering what the hell was going on. Although, the term 'engulf' probably was a massive overstatement for the tiny amount of light the screen was outputting, for two people who had now spent a considerable period in the dark, it seemed massive.

Katsuya's eyes adjusted, and for the first time in too long, he could see properly.

He almost had a panic attack. Again.

Although he had been able to feel that their bodies were practically on top of eachother, it took sight for this to really sink in. Katsuya had twisted so much that he was now facing Kaiba rather than having his back to the CEO, as he had when he they had first landed. And Kaiba's nose was a matter of inches away.

He immediately tried to spring backwards and rectify the situation. But it seemed in his twisting one of his legs had become intertwined with Kaiba's jacket, and the other took his movement as an opportunity to remind him that he'd just smashed it against a door and it still hurt.

"Ow!" He proclaimed loudly, falling back down again, which actually only helped to close the distance between them instead of lengthening it. Happily, he had not landed near Kaiba's face.

_Oh, because landing on his _chest _is a better scenario? _

"Well, that was completely pointless. Will you please just calm down for one minute while I try to get us out of this?" Kaiba almost sneered; and who apparently was not as annoyed about their current positions as Katsuya was. That or, perhaps because Kaiba could not jump backwards into the floor and with the weight on top of him was practically restricted of movement anyway.

He also didn't wait for an answer, a series of small beeps let Katsuya know that he was dialing or looking into his phonebook.

"Who are you calling?" Katsuya questioned, feeling that he had a right to know.

"Mokuba. He can get someone to come and get us out of here." Seto answered without pause. His people were the only people for the job, really.

"That's stupid. Call the front desk security. They'll come up in five minutes." Katsuya protested.

Seto paused in his finding of the right number. Damn, that was actually a much better idea. Why hadn't he thought of that first? He blinked. There was no way he was going to admit out loud that Jonouchi's idea had been better; "I don't know what their number is. Do you have any idea?" His tone implied that he suspected the boy didn't.

He wasn't lying either, he really didn't know this office's security number.

Katsuya shook his head lamentably, realizing Kaiba was right. "Fine then." Kaiba said dismissively, and continued to find the number. He held the phone as close to his ear as he could get. The blue light right there makes him look even spookier, Katsuya reflected.

Since it was so silent he could just hear the ringing tone that the phone was making. With nothing more to say Katsuya sat patiently and listened, praying to God that Mokuba would pick up.

Unfortunately, he had been getting the distinct feeling for weeks now that God took too much amusement in his misfortunes, and as such would not be one to let something as classic as being locked in the storage room with his worst enemy slide. God may have been all-powerful but that did not mean he was bereft of a sense of humour.

Mokuba's voicemail confirmed Katsuya's divine suspicions.

Seto swore once more. Nothing was going right. He was incredibly angry but felt he was doing a remarkable job at not showing it. It had occurred to him to beat the living crap out of Jonouchi just to make himself feel better, but at that moment he couldn't even concentrate on the phone's screen without his eyes swimming and the pounding in his head doubling itself. He did not make a habit of getting into fights or throwing himself backwards into solid objects, but he had heard a lot about it. He thought his symptoms might have been normal for head injuries, but he was in fact finding it extremely hard to do just that. The shock of it, and waking up again had helped him to think clearly for awhile, but that bought of concentration whilst he had phoned his brother had taken it out of him again. He looked back down at his phone, perhaps considering calling again, but the screen was moving all over the place and the buttons wouldn't stay still.

He was pretty sure they normally did.

He flipped the phone closed again, making a slightly pained noise as he automatically raised his hand to his forehead and pressed it, wishing such an action would take the hurt away. Thus they were plunged back into darkness again, but Seto found himself not really caring. He had the presence of mind to realise that once Mokuba saw his missed call he would probably return it. He was once again extremely grateful that he had such a persistent younger brother.

And then there was the fact that Jonouchi was still lying on top of him. To the mutt's credit he had already tried to change that but apparently to no avail. Seto himself felt it would have been best for him to shove the other boy as far away as possible but he didn't think he could have held the required concentration to do it. Plus, and only in his most semiconscious thoughts would he ever have been able to think this; it was cold, and Jonouchi was warm.

For the less-able-minded-due-to-being-smashed-in-the-head, this was as simple an equation as adding one and one and getting two. In other words, it made perfect sense now, but probably wouldn't tomorrow.

Seto was sure he muttered something along the lines of; "He'll call back," before he slouched slightly further down the shelves and turned his head to the side, slipping out of consciousness for the second time that evening.

Katsuya wanted to ask more questions, but the way Kaiba was slurring and didn't even manage to finish the three word sentence before trailing off led him to believe that the CEO had likely blacked out again. Katsuya couldn't really blame him. He'd spent a good part of his childhood getting into fights which more than often involved blows to the head. Someone like himself was a bit more immune to them nowadays, but he assumed that Kaiba wasn't as accustomed to the experience.

So there was nothing more that he could do. His leg wouldn't stop hurting and he had a growing suspicion that he might have fractured something. That was probably worst case scenario, he tried to remind himself, it would probably just be very bruised in the morning. There was no point in thinking about that now anyway, because there was nothing that he could do about it. Nothing he could do to help Kaiba either, if he had wanted to.

He couldn't wait to get them some ice packs.

_Him_ an icepack.

Kaiba could get his own, thank you very much.

Katsuya sighed, the pain in his leg didn't exactly make him feel sleepy, but something about how warm it was, _was_ making him feel a little more relaxed. That was another thing he couldn't quite comprehend. It was supposed to be cold, right? He was cold before, he remembered shivering... because it was cold.

But it was warm.

As it was so still and so silent, Katsuya felt the tips of his hair move as a gust of air pushed past them. He craned his neck to look upwards, but then remembered that it was pitch black. That didn't matter, he was pretty sure he knew what that had been. With a sigh he made one last effort to push himself as far away from Kaiba as possible. He made little more headway before finally giving up. His leg ached and the more he moved it the worse it became. So he unwillingly conceded to the situation. A part of him felt completely embarrassed and angry, but he was too annoyed to care. The most he could do was wait for Mokuba to call back. He wished he'd had a mobile of his own so that he could have called one of his friends, the little good that that might have done. He made a mental note to invest in one.

Katsuya closed his eyes, noting that it didn't really make much of a difference, and attempted to stop thinking. He never really got to sleep, but drifted in and out of a slightly conscious state until finally Kaiba's phone started beeping, some time later.

* * *

If you're still reading, I applaud you. Too cliche? –shrugs- I had to make them do _something. _Credit for explaining the laws of Motion go to my year 11 Physics teacher. Jeez that was a long time ago now. Because you all came to read about Newton, right?

It is important to note that reviews make wonderful birthday presents (although mine is not for another two days, by the time you read this it probably won't be my birthday anymore). Better late than never though, eh? Also, if you're getting sick of my random review replies just let me know. I'm not sure what the norm with that kind of thing is with fan fiction…

See you next time!


	8. Reflection

Ch 8 (Reflection)

A/N: Chibi-the-small suggested I throw a party. I thought this was a brilliant idea. Also, another reader told me they were having a problem loading some of the chapters, and that they were appearing as blank pages. I assure you, I did NOT upload blank files, and as far as I can tell from my end they are working. So, if anyone has been having similar problems don't hesitate to let me know. I don't know how I can fix it other than offering to give you the text, but if it becomes a problem I guess ill just have to email an admin or something… anyhoo, read on dear readers

Disclaimer: Characters, worlds, people, games, and everything else is owned by and copyrighted Kazuki Takahashi. This is a non-for-profit fan work with no particular personal gain in mind. I own the writing and nothing else.

* * *

"What's going on?"

"I'm not sure, sir. There seems to be large group of people standing in front of your house."

"Yes I can see that. Do you happen to have any idea why?"

"No, sorry."

He sighed.

"Ah… They seem to have spotted us sir."

"Dang. I don't suppose you could… uh… drive around the block or something?"

"Would look a bit like running away now that we're parked, sir."

"Probably." He hadn't even noticed the car stop.

"I suspect they may be tourists," The driver continued.

"What makes you say that?" He watched them as one by one they began to notice the limousine.

"They do not appear to be Japanese."

"Ah, you're right." Mass excitement was ensuing; many of the gathered audience were of European background, so it was easy to guess the tourist guise, some of the females had begun to literally jump up and down.

He had probably stalled enough.

"Thanks for the ride!"

"No problem, Master Kaiba." The driver replied, although naturally this was his job; "And good luck." He smiled back through the rear view mirror with a mixture of sympathy and amusement. It was amazing how many other people throughout the world knew about the owners of Kaiba Corporation, even though their market wasn't as big outside of Japan. This was just one of the things their CEO was working on improving.

"Piece of cake." Mokuba flashed the man a determined grin and promptly exited the vehicle. The action was met with a shout of excitement from the crowd of tourists. He could see over their heads a few of his security guards (there were normally a number of them stationed at the Kaiba residence) trying to push through the throng of people towards him from the opposite side. He donned a cheery smile and gazed around at the people gathered. He hadn't even managed to properly close the car door before a woman jumped forward and shook his hand. He tried to end the greeting quickly and press past her to get into his house. Someone tugged on his backpack and someone else grabbed his other hand. They were mostly all yelling and trying to get his attention, however he couldn't help but feel that some of the young women were slightly disappointed that he hadn't been his brother.

He journeyed on past two boys who must have been in middle school, both of whom were wearing variations of a t-shirt with the Blues Eyes White Dragon printed on it. He had just been ambushed into a hug when his security guards reached him and extracted his throat from choking arms. The rest of the trip to the gate was relatively pain free. They ushered him away quickly but he continued to smile and even waved when people greeted him. He knew his older brother usually ignored crowds of screaming fan girls or reporters, but Mokuba was the 'nicer' one of the two and personally felt it was just polite to give them some sort of recognition. They _did_ take the time and effort to personally bombard him at his private home, after all.

It was important for plot purposes to note that it was around this time, ironically whilst Mokuba was thinking of how his brother might act in this situation, that he missed Seto's phone call. Who, unbeknownst to the younger Kaiba, was passed out in an unlit storage room with his most annoying rival sprawled out alongside him. Naturally, he could not hear the ringing tone above the screaming declarations of the greeting party.

Coming home from club practice was not normally this confronting. A few rabid Japanese fans occasionally accosted his house, however the occurrence was infrequent. Like other cultures, most Japanese had a sense of personal space. That is, it was perfectly fine for media crews to confront Seto when he left his office, but very few of them would try to snag him at his own place of residence. Even these people gathered would probably leave once they saw Mokuba enter his house and were sure he wasn't about to come out again anytime soon.

A side gate, just to the left of their main entrance, was opened and Mokuba ushered inside. He turned and flashed one last smile to the crowd then entered the safe confines of his own property. He had to resist the urge to over-do his sigh of relief as he trekked up the perfectly bricked path to his front door. Forgetting his house keys had never been an issue, 97 of the time there was someone else inside to let him in. They had hired a housekeeper after the unfortunate events surrounding their last butler's term with them. Mokuba, with his new found morals, had decided to hire someone distinctly "not evil" to run their household from then on. Seto hadn't exactly been in a state to contest this at the time. The Kaiba residence, afterwards, saw a considerable lack in cleaners who looked like they had been previously occupied as hit men, plots of murder against certain young duelists with multi-coloured hair, and discarded axe's still fresh with a strange red unidentifiable liquid. Mokuba had hand-picked a mature older woman in her mid fifties who came along with considerable credentials. Things, under her influence, became a lot smoother. The siblings' sudden departures over the years had never fazed her, and Mokuba remembered being distinctly surprised that the house was still in one piece once he returned from Duelist Kingdom (since at that time she had only been a recent acquisition). This had also been what convinced Seto that she was perhaps worth keeping on.

Her family name was Nakamura, although Mokuba had taken to calling her Obaa-san whenever they crossed paths. He really had changed from all those years ago, and hated remembering how cruelly he had used to treat people. Although retaining at least _some_ of his self-important nature was practically a requirement of bearing the Kaiba name. In most people's eyes he was still a little boy, gazing up at his older brother with adoration and respect. Which, granted, he still did. But Mokuba, like everyone else, _had_ grown up. He was still in high school, still loved games, still begged his brother to let him stay up late… But he couldn't have gone through all he had and come out immature.

He and his housekeeper were on such casual terms that she didn't even properly greet him as she rushed past from one room that adjoined the entrance hall, to the next which eventually followed on to the kitchen. She said a customary greeting of 'welcome home' before speeding away. She was terribly efficient. Always busy with something, Mokuba realized he couldn't remember the last time he'd seen her actually sitting down. He smiled almost fondly, bending down to take off his shoes.

She bustled back through just as quickly, although giving the young Kaiba enough time to notice a lack of other pairs of footwear.

"Is Nii-sama not home yet?" He didn't look up but knew she was nearby.

She, in turn, did not cease her activities to reply to him; "No, he called a little while ago and said he would be working late tonight."

"Okay." She swept out again, and he stretched his back, reaching his arms up above his head. He yawned. Clubs on Saturdays were all fine, but after a whole weeks worth of study and extra curricular activities he felt worn out and sleepy. He was glad they invented Sundays; he needed it just to recuperate.

A devious grin spread across his face; if Seto wasn't home yet, that meant there was no one to tell him to complete his homework before doing something more relaxing, which meant he was free to do whatever he wanted until his brother finished work.

Thrilled, Mokuba wasted no time in dumping his bag right there in the hall and racing off to play his latest video game. He _was_ still a teenager after all, and expected to not bother with putting things away.

Naturally, his phone was in his backpack.

* * *

After the event was all taken care of, Katsuya was able to reflect properly on the proceedings, rather than only being able to concentrate on the moment. Because once Mokuba had called back the evening progressed rather quickly.

The fact that no more than fifteen minutes later the door had been opened once again reminded Katsuya of Kaiba's vast wealth and connections. If he'd been stuck himself, and somehow been able to contact someone he knew, he doubted they would have been able to arrange anything more than: "the locksmith will come in the morning". Mokuba, apparently, had those kinds of people on speed dial.

Luckily by the time rescue did arrive Katsuya's foot was feeling slightly better, and in a great act of determination had vowed not to be found lying on top of Kaiba. So when Mokuba burst in looking pale and worried and apologizing for not answering immediately (the first of probably fifty times that night), both Kaiba and Katsuya were sitting as far away from each other as possible, on opposite sides of the closet. If smaller brother had thought anything of the fact that he was there too, he didn't voice it.

Although in the most undesirable of circumstances, it had been good to see Mokuba again. And to discover that he was still a lot nicer than Kaiba was. Mokuba had been the one to insist they drive Katsuya home, rather than forcing him to take two trains with a busted leg. This was after Katsuya had outright refused to be taken to the hospital. That would be way over-doing it; if it had been a fracture it would have hurt more than it was, and if it had been broken he would have been screaming. (In a very manly and distinctly un-girly kind of way of course).

Kaiba was less inclined to lend his car to the blonde again but relented not only at the demand of his favourite sibling, but also possibly because this time he could keep an eye on the 'mutt' and make sure he didn't break anything. Although, Katsuya had noted, if this was the case the CEO had had a hard time doing it. Once seated comfortably in his car, Kaiba had _really _looked about ready to fall asleep. His head kept nodding and his eyes keeping falling shut for a few seconds before he snapped them open in surprise.

That was another thing. Katsuya was stealing glances at the other man just to check he was okay. He was sure he shouldn't have cared, but he couldn't help it. He didn't want Kaiba to get a brain injury or anything, so when they had reached his house and Mokuba had gotten out to of the car to let him out he had pulled the younger boy over and whispered to him; "Hey, make sure your brother is okay. I think he hit his head pretty bad, and he blacked out a few times. You might wanna take _him_ to the hospital, you know?"

Mokuba had glanced back to the car with a worried expression, "Yeah, I thought he was acting kinda odd. Thanks Jonouchi! …For looking out for my brother. I'll make sure he see's one of our doctors."

Before Katsuya could argue the fact that he was looking out for Kaiba, Mokuba had turned back to the car and ducked inside, giving Jou a little wave before closing the door. He had probably been eager to get his brother looked at.

Katsuya, on the other hand, had been eager to lie down properly in his bed and go to sleep. This he had done with all haste, and slept for a good twelve hours before waking up the next day with his foot throbbing again.

He'd loaded himself with painkillers, constructed an ice pack, and lay back down on his couch. That evening he had considered trying to find out whether Kaiba was doing okay. He wasn't quite sure how he would have gone about it, seeing as the only number he knew to contact him on was his main office and not only did he not work on a Sunday but Katsuya figured even he wasn't crazy enough to attempt paperwork with a concussion.

He soon gave up on that idea. His next had been to call one of his friends – suddenly realizing why women talked about their experiences so much. He wanted to tell someone about it, to complain and have someone care, at least at face value. Plus, it would be funny in retrospect. Hopefully.

But he had felt exhausted and really couldn't be bothered. He called Yugi and Honda the next day to get them to apologize to his university tutors as he didn't think he'd be able to walk without wincing just yet.

Being the caring friends they were, they came around Monday evening to see if he was okay. This led to his retelling of 'the story', which in turn led to his later contemplation of the events up until this moment.

In his reenactment he had been a little hazy around the details of where he and Kaiba had fallen. In this case 'hazy' meant something like: "then I pushed Kaiba who hit his head on a shelf and we sort of fell down sitting across from each other."

He didn't want to lie to his friends, but sparing them the truth wasn't a bad way of going about it either. It was funny how, when recalling a particularly memorable event, one tended to centre on particular things. In this case, Katsuya wasn't telling the story exactly how it had happened because he was embarrassed that he hadn't moved. Sure, his foot had felt like it had just been run over by a train, and eventually he'd managed to get his whole other leg twisted up inside of Kaiba's jacket… but Katsuya was famous for his determination. If he had wanted to move he damn well would have. So, knowing this, and then remembering the fact that he _didn't_, made the heat rise to his cheeks.

Why didn't he move away? He might have been able to if he'd just ignored the pain in his foot and persevered into a non-contact sitting position. This one little idea had him embarrassed about the entire situation. He could even disregard the fact that the whole thing had been his fault in the first place.

It plagued his mind.

At the time, he hadn't cared. He'd decided it was no use moving so had settled to be content with what he had. And then he had gotten comfortable so he decided to stay right where he was. And although he didn't want to admit it, that was how he had felt; comfortable. Despite the pain in his leg, despite that it was a totally awkward position and his arms were squashed and his left leg felt suffocated and Kaiba wouldn't stop _breathing_ on his hair… he'd still felt comfortable.

_Ahhh… damnit! _

Katsuya kicked himself mentally and tried to think about someone else. Wait… some_thing _else. Yeah.

Besides, before he knew it this would all blow away, and six months later he and Yugi and the rest of his friends would be laughing about the tale.

He was sure of it.

* * *

Seto's memory of Saturday night was a bit blurry. With all of his vast medicinal experience, he diagnosed himself with "the type of concussion that left you wondering whether those pink flamingoes had actually been in the storage closet as well at the time."

He had eventually fallen asleep properly, as unsuitable a bed as the office floor was. So when Mokuba rang he had needed to take a moment to wake up. He had tried to explain the situation as quickly as possible, but he knew his words had sounded a bit disjointed. No matter, as his younger brother had gotten the message and within fifteen minutes had come to the rescue. Seto had been filled with a sense of relief and gratitude which he had made a mental note to impart on Mokuba later, when he was thinking clearly. Also apparently by this stage Jonouchi had moved away somewhere.

Unfortunately for Seto's addled brain, this left him feeling oddly cold and disappointed. Cold he could understand, due to the weather, but disappointed was new to him. For the moment at least, he didn't want to dwell on what this could possibly have meant.

Then Mokuba had insisted they take the blonde boy home, somewhat to Seto's displeasure. As soon as he had gotten into the car his brother had brought, he was overcome with another wave of sleepiness. He felt worn out and his head was still hurting painfully. He wanted nothing more than to make himself numb so he could drift off right there and then, because although he was exhausted, the pain in the back of his head was too great to let him get any real rest.

It was funny how tired you could get from doing seemingly nothing at all.

Jonouchi had kept looking at him throughout the drive back to his apartment when he thought the Kaiba brothers wouldn't notice. Seto didn't quite want to suggest to himself that this was because the other boy was concerned for him. Did anyone even need to be concerned? Would he be able to just take some pain killers and be right as rain tomorrow?

The thinking had, once again, taken it out of him. He had hardly noticed as the car pulled to a stop and the two other passengers stepped out for a moment. Once Mokuba returned, alone, they had sped away again. Only in the presence of his brother, who was possibly the only person in the world he trusted so completely, would Seto let down his mask.

He had explained he thought he needed to see a doctor tomorrow, and then proceeded to flop his head back onto the headrest and let his eyes shut properly; he didn't open them again until they had reached their home.

As soon as he had stood up out of the vehicle, the world started spinning, and he had needed the help of his younger brother just to make it back inside. Mokuba had been extremely worried, and called one of their doctors. Seto didn't _do_ waiting in line at the hospital. A Kaiba didn't wait. So they had a number of on-call doctors. It was lucky they didn't mind coming out at 2am to see how he was doing.

The doctor had checked his head thoroughly and announced, to everyone's satisfaction, that he didn't think any permanent damage had been done. It was best to have a CT scan at the next available time, however, which happened to be the next day. Apart from this he had prescribed some stronger medication and bed rest.

And that was what Seto had been doing since Sunday. The scan had shown everything was fine, he was just a little knocked about. He had seen the doctor wanting to give him one of those: "now you be more careful in the future young man" speeches, so had taken the news and stopped the conversation before it could reach that point.

Mokuba was very doting, Seto realized. On Monday he was sure his brother would have taken time off school if he hadn't gotten annoyed at that point and practically _ordered_ him to go.

Mokuba pouted back at him, eyes boarding on the 'puppy dog' look; "But I'm worried about you, Nii-sama."

Seto smiled at him and said; "Don't worry, I've got 'Obaa-san' here help me out, and I'm feeling much better than I did yesterday."

The younger brother suddenly cracked a huge smile; one which Seto felt was slightly unbefitting to the simple reassuring words he'd just spoken. "What?" He asked, a little confused.

Mokuba's smile didn't fade, "That's the first time you called her Obaa-san…"

Seto blinked. Was it? He had put a little sarcastic emphasis on it because he normally addressed her by her proper name, which Mokuba would have noticed, but the boy seemed to take it as a sign of something.

He was staring at his older brother with a knowing smile which Seto couldn't really comprehend.

_You're changing, Nii-sama… I think it's because you don't hate Jonouchi so much anymore, right? …And I don't think he hates you either…_

Mokuba didn't say anything, but grabbed his school bag and waved goodbye. Seto was left feeling completely lost; since when could he not read his little brother? He had looked like he was concluding something positive, and Seto wanted to know what it had been.

However in the very back corner of his mind, tucked underneath some files marked 'adopted father', inside a cardboard box, sealed with duct tape and postage stamped Nigeria, surrounded by barbed wire and a large sign in front which read "Caution! Mouse Traps!", he felt he already knew the answer.

His one clue was that he didn't feel altogether that angry at Jonouchi for trapping them inside the tiny room, although he should have been. Usually he would have wasted no time in firing the good for nothing dog, and then contemplated taking out a hit on him. But he didn't, he couldn't even bring himself to be more than slightly annoyed. He couldn't understand why; the boy had idiotically not only moved the chair away but then tried to kick the door down which led to his head injury.

However all he was left with was a vague sense of disappointment that the moment, one he had hitherto been absolutely sure he had never wanted to be a part of, hadn't lasted longer.

And unfortunately, now that he was recovering, he couldn't blame the thoughts on the typical delusional fall back from shelving acquaintances. Mokuba couldn't possibly have known this though, so was probably thinking something slightly different. Perhaps he would try to casually ask him about it later.

For now, he simply needed to re-group after the whole ordeal and get back on track with his normal weekly routine. That and, he was pretty sure he remembered saying he would talk to Yahada about his new position on Monday.

* * *

Domino City had not had another _really _rainy day since Saturday. It sprinkled here and there but didn't harass the public too much. The darkened skies refused to clear up, however, their continued residence feeling like a promise of rain still to come. Clearly the water was just biding it's time until it could annoy the greatest amount of people. Citizens carried umbrella's around with them just in case the clouds decided to strike while they were exposed. Employees scanned the skies from behind glass towers with a glazed expression, taking a few moments off work to update themselves on any progress.

Seto found himself doing this every five seconds or so, having to wait on the arrival of another person had never been a task he handled well. Efficiency was a quality he expected from not only his employees and his business, but also himself. That was why he had not postponed Yahada's meeting simply because now _he_ was the invalid. Besides, it was Thursday and he felt nice and healthy once again. Well, healthy _enough_ in any case. He couldn't really have afforded to take much more time off of work anyway, with Niita being sick as well (although had now also returned to work at her kind insistence); calls had backed up his answering machine, reports had spammed his inbox demanding attention, and he seemed to be suddenly inundated with tiny pieces of paper that needed his signature. Above all of this, however, he was determined to start the ball rolling on the 'New CEO of Shichi Corporation' project. The sooner he could cease the constant switching between offices his routine would become a whole lot smoother once again. Although he _had_ been enjoying the few breaks he got from Niita's presence as a result of this.

Yahada finally arrived, five minutes late and looking like he'd just been running to get here. He was a young man in his late twenties, but was very bright, as his swift climbing of the corporate ranks indicated. If Seto decided to place him in charge of Shichi, however, this would still be a big leap for him. The man was polite, tolerant, but not entirely timid. He was slightly taller than Seto, and had discernibly fair hair for a Japanese person. Seto could only guess that one of his parents was of Western descent. Perhaps a tall blonde Canadian? …They were all tall and blonde… right? The presumably blonde and black genes had mixed to result in a weird light brown colour that crowned Yahada's head.

"Traffic on this side of town is terrible." He explained, straightening his jacket and coughing, trying to hide his fast breathing.

Seto realized that a man who only recently had been in a car accident, who had been told it would be best to take time to recover, should probably not have been running to reach his office on time. He felt a pang of sympathy, having been in an 'accident' recently himself.

"Uh, why don't you take a seat?" He suggested, seeing that Yahada was slightly out of breath.

"Sorry… take a seat?" He clarified, glancing at one to the left of Seto's desk in the corner. He promptly grabbed it by the back and brought it over, placing in front of the desk and seating himself.

And that, right there, was Yahadas… thing.

Everyone had odd habits, naturally. Nobody was perfect, no matter how much they seemed to be. And Yahada _was_ smart and tall and good looking and smart and potentially a good business person and a quick thinker and a keen tennis player and smart and good at geometry and had a nice nose and was probably going to make lots of money one day and liked softball and enjoyed walking and was smart and witty and good at charades and was fluent in English and owned a nice car and still, remarkably, unmarried… In hindsight all of these qualities really did outweigh a tiny habit that sometimes got on peoples nerves. However it was still worth mentioning it, since one of the people's nerves it reached was Seto's.

The CEO had, in fact, forgotten all about Yahadas twitch-worthy habit. The man, you see, was the kind of person who had a tendency to repeat what you had just said, seemingly to clarify whether they had heard properly. Naturally this normally wasn't that big a deal. Everybody did it from time to time, as from time to time it was simply necessary to make such a statement as to confirm what has been said. Yahada, however, did this quite often. And Seto couldn't help but wonder sometimes whether the constant clarification was really necessary. Take for example the present situation; the older man had asked him whether taking a seat was what he had said, and before receiving an answer proceeded to grab a chair and sit down. What, then, was the point in asking? If one wasn't going to wait for a reply then why ask a question? It seemed redundant. Not to mention pointless. And being forced to listen to a repeat of what you have just phrased was downright annoying. The habit would have reached the level of "I know what I said!!" shouted at the top of his lungs, if Seto hadn't been an entirely reserved person.

He only shouted on special occasions. Christmas was a favourite.

Seto coughed. "Anyway… There is no point in fluffing up the matter; I want you to get used to this job as soon as possible. Because I want you to have it."

Yahada, although the news wasn't really, well, _news _(Seto had told him this already, he was just using it in this case to introduce his next sentence) looked modestly surprised regardless.

"As such please use today to get used to this office and building to the best of your ability. I wanted to show you around myself, however in my absence an annoying amount of paper work seems to have backed up…"

Behind Yahada Seto's office door opened and someone entered, then made a weird noise sounding like a single syllable equivalent of "oops sorry I didn't realize there was a meeting on in here."

"…so I will have him show you around instead." The CEO finished, waving his hand towards the person standing in the doorway.

"Who?"

"Who?"

"Him?"

"Me?"

"Show me around?"

"Do what?"

"Like a tour?"

"Like a what?"

"Wait…"

"Wait!"

"Who is he?"

"Who is this guy!?"

"Okay."

"Okay. Wait… no."

"Kaiba-san?"

"Kaiba!?"

_It's like watching a freakin' double act…_ Seto blinked, then shook his head. Okay… that was just weird. They were both staring at him now, and had stopped speaking. Thank God.

"This is one of my assistants, Jonouchi. He will show you around the office and explain things to you."

"Ah, I see." Yahada turned to the confused young man standing in the doorway. He smiled politely. The boy stared at him for a few moments before saying a customary 'Nice to meet you'. Accepting this Yahada then stood up and made his way to the door, nodding back once at Seto before walking past the assistant and down the hall. He was well aware, being the one of the brighter chickens of the coup, that his employer was really clutching at straws. How hard was it to find your way around an office? The real progress that needed to be made was going over stock reports and expenditure charts and getting him up to speed with the current state of Shichi Corporation. However this was something Kaiba needed to do himself, and Yahada could understand that with this being his first proper day back at work, he still needed time to do some catching up. He was happy to let him. He personally wasn't the kind of man who ran headlong into situations, so the idea of easing more gradually into the role of Chief Executive Officer was very appealing. If he had to spend the afternoon finding out where the break room was, then that was just fine with him.

* * *

The as yet unnamed man swept past him out the door and then marched straight on down the hall. Presumably another employee of Kaiba's, he didn't seem to care that the shorter assistant wasn't following closely behind. The lack of attention let Katsuya linger in Kaiba's doorway for the time being. Throwing the striding figure one last look he turned back to the CEO, who was looking at him with his eyebrow raised in an expression that clearly stated; "What the hell are you still doing here, didn't I just imply for you to leave?"

Katsuya would have been lying if he'd said that he hadn't spent even a moment considering how Kaiba was getting on. The man had a bad head injury for Christ's sake; he was allowed to be even a little concerned! He _looked _fine, the blonde observed, but against his better judgment he still felt the need to confirm this.

"Um, so is your head okay?" He asked the carpet, suddenly not wanting to look the CEO in the eye. He was still feeling acutely embarrassed about Saturday. In fact, he had been spending the week unsure of what to expect from Kaiba the next time he saw him. A part of him thought he might be fired on the spot; since it was entirely his fault for getting them into such an absurd situation. Another part expected Kaiba to ridicule him for being an ass and not moving away and letting him breathe.

Instead Kaiba said simply; "I'm fine." Notably, though, he didn't return the question. Instead there was an awkward pause between them, as if both of them were thinking of something embarrassing and didn't want to voice it.

Finally Kaiba coughed, "So yes, find some way to entertain Yahada this afternoon while I finish the immediate paperwork."

"Entertain? …Does that mean I can take him to the arcade?"

Kaiba managed a glare, "Don't be stupid, mutt. Now get out so I can get on with things."

And just like that, their relationship was back to seemingly normal level. Katsuya left without so much as a word of rebuttal, happy to still be alive. The last two lines of back and forth dialogue had let them return to their usual state of affairs. Clearly neither of them had anything further to say about the incident. And that was just fine with Katsuya. He wasn't fired, although he would wonder that this was a little strange wasn't it? He wasn't even being deducted pay over the matter. Well, technically he hadn't received that weeks pay check yet so he supposed that remained to be seen. If Kaiba was angry at him he didn't seem any more angry than usual, and a certain degree of it had been apparent in their relationship since they first met.

All in all, Katsuya felt he'd gotten off extremely lightly. And although the why of this remained behind closed doors, he wasn't in a rush to open them. Hopefully they could just forget about it and move on.

First things first however, he now had to find out where this 'Yahada' person had gotten to, and then work out how to entertain him for the rest of the day.

* * *

It rained on Friday again, for a little while, and then on Saturday the sun finally peaked out from behind the clouds. Even if the day wasn't hot the sun was very welcome to the city dwellers, sick of being forced home early and shut up inside. Most people regarded, however, that this was probably the last warm day they would see in awhile. It was almost winter which meant endless rain and snow, and a sun that did little else but remind everybody when it was daytime. So people were making the most of this Saturday, and consequently Katsuya grieved that he couldn't have spent it out with his friends. Honda had suggested he ask Kaiba for the afternoon off, but he had assured the brunet that it was about as likely to occur as him spotting a native Japanese Koala.

Being stuck inside at work felt a lot like a flashback to some cheesy children's cartoon in which some poor unfortunate little dimple sits lamentably at their lounge room window, grounded for doing something unspeakable such as throwing water bombs at their sibling or setting off the school fire alarm, and stares mournfully outside where hordes of other young children have taken to playing joyfully within eyesight. Katsuya had started to actually ask people whether they wanted a coffee because he was willing to run down to the store to get them one, yes indeed, if it meant actually stepping out. When he soon found that this was a trick people reserved for when he was busy or it was raining, he decided to take his break quite early and go get _himself_ something to drink. (He had, of course, carefully avoided asking Kaiba whether he wanted anything during this period, his generosity did not extend _quite_ that far). His feet led him on an automatic stroll to a nearby coffee shop, where he usually purchased 'pick-me-ups' for the other staff members. Feeling that sugar would aid him for the day ahead he bought a hot chocolate, not really being a coffee person himself anyway, and had only just exited the establishment before a shrill voice sounded just to his left.

"Jonouchi-kun!!" They appeared extremely thrilled at the sight of him. Confused, and a little annoyed at the title, Katsuya turned to find out who was calling him.

Oh.

Bleach blonde hair bobbed towards him, putting his own locks to shame. Anything natural like hair colour always looked better when applied from a packet. "Uh… Niita-san was it?"

She looked positively ecstatic that he'd remembered her name. She nodded enthusiastically, "Just Niita! Or Niita-chan…" She practically winked.

_It's like I'm staring at a three year old_.

"What brings you here?" He was slightly afraid that she would tackle him at any moment, so refrained from taking a sip of his drink. No harm in letting it cool down anyway. "Oh, well, Kaiba asked me to drop off a few things…" Katsuya thought it was more likely, from what he knew of the woman, that she had _decided_ to drop off a few things, rather than had been specifically asked to do so. "…and also wanted to give him his… oh look!"

Had it been any other person randomly pointing in a direction over his shoulder, he wouldn't have turned around. "Are you pointing to the gashapon machine?"

She threw him a delighted smile. "I haven't seen this one before! It must be a brand new release."

She bounced over to it, and Katsuya followed somewhat less enthusiastically. To his surprise, however, what she had discovered was merchandise associated with a game he was particularly fond of.

"Don't tell me you like Duel Monsters?" He asked incredulously, for some reason finding it hard to believe that this was the case.

"Oh no, I don't really. Only played it once or twice. But I _do_ like cute things." She threw him what might have been considered an adorable smile if he didn't know her better. What they were looking at were small phone charms with various monsters from the popular game ready to dangle from the end. They were, in a way, very cute. Katsuya was suddenly reminded of Pegasus' 'Toon World' monsters, but the ones before him were not so despicable. Although they were small enough to be charm-sized, they had not been compromised into 'chibi' design, so even the most ferocious of warriors would still have been able to keep its dignity.

He turned to see her gazing through the plastic looking entirely overjoyed.

_How old is she!? _Katsuya thought, bemused. _Okay this coming from the man who spends his spare time playing card games…_

So he gave in and let himself be a bit more enthusiastic. "Nothing beats the real thing," He smiled.

She turned to him with a determined look, "Lets get some! You like Duel Monsters, right?"

Was that a rhetorical question? "Yeah but…" He considered his answer, "I don't even have a _phone._"

Did she just giggle? "Well, you can put them on other things. Come on, just buy one. I think we should even get one for Kaiba." She winked at him.

Although he didn't realize it at the time, he began to start thinking that there was maybe more to this woman then what he had given her credit for. She was not a complete ditz, not a bimbo, but not entirely altogether either. She was one of those enigmas of a human being that people generally brushed aside and categorized as 'annoying'. Which, granted, she was. What he was realizing though, was that aside from all of this, she _did_ have her moments. And although at all other times he would probably have picked someone else to be spending his morning with, she could be acknowledged for occasionally having an interesting idea.

Katsuya laughed, "He'll just throw it away, but I guess there's no harm in seeing his reaction."

So, without further ado, she bought three of them. Which was quite kind of her considering it was obvious Katsuya had his own money; his change still jingling in his pockets.

It was impossible to tell which card monster was inside without opening it. This was the point of course, and of the vending machines themselves which delivered the prize at random once you turned the lever. This way you ended up spending more money and exercising the use of swear words when you happened to purchase a duplicate of something you already had.

Clutching them decisively, she flashed him a similar look and pronounced; "Let's go deliver it!"

It was almost impossible to not be effected by so much enthusiasm. He felt himself smiling back, at least a little, and nodding for her to lead the way.

* * *

Niita blathered on about seemingly meaningless subjects all the way up to the office; making Katsuya almost immediately regret deciding to follow her while she went and spoke to Kaiba. Of course, he _was_ heading in the same direction, so couldn't really have avoided doing so. The conversation would have been quite inevitable:

"You're not coming up?"

"Oh… yes."

"So you're just going to walk a few metres behind me then?"

"If that's okay."

Even Katsuya could see that he wouldn't have made it out of that one lightly. So he stood instead by her side and listened to her comment on what might happen if the elevator cable snapped or why didn't this one have windows? They were always nicer with windows, she said. Then you could see how far below you the ground was.

He was suddenly extremely glad this one _didn't_ have windows.

Once they got to their floor and stepped past the reception desk Niita greeted Sasaki pleasantly and gave her a bright wave. Before the other woman could blink back her surprise and ask if the new arrival needed any kind of help (perhaps of the medicinal sort), Niita had bustled on past.

About half way down the hall she suddenly stopped and turned to Katsuya, realizing that she didn't actually know where she was going. He had been waiting for her to pick up on this, so was ready to point her in the right direction before she even finished asking. They eventually made it to Kaiba's temporary office. He ushered her inside first, not wanting to receive the brunt of a verbal assault when the CEO realized that she had arrived.

She knocked and didn't wait for a reply before entering. Katsuya absent mindedly wondered why she bothered to do so at all. He followed behind her somewhat gingerly.

He had been right; her arrival appeared to be unexpected. Kaiba's expression changed from curiosity to find out who had barged on in uncalled for, to shock at the realization of who it was, to extreme annoyance at the realization of who it was.

"Forgive me if it seems a stupid question, but what the hell are you doing here when you should be at my office doing your job?" Kaiba placed the pen he had been holding down, and turned his steely gaze upon her.

She didn't seem very fazed by this, "I came to give you your invitation!" She announced cheerfully.

"My what?"

"Oh and we also came to give you this!" She fished into her purse to produce the gashapon balls with much dramatic emphasis.

"We?" Kaiba turned his cynical eye towards Katsuya, looking like he had only just realized the other boy was there too.

"Uh… hers… really." Katsuya waved a hand in Niitas direction, trying to shift as much attention away from himself as possible. Into this hand she suddenly thrust one of the small capsules, however.

"One for you," She declared as she did this, "One for you," she offered one to Kaiba with her other hand. He didn't even look at it, instead kept staring at her in a way that conveyed his displeasure. She faltered slightly, "Uh… I'll just put it in here." She placed it into the 'In-Tray' on his desk. He didn't pay it any notice.

"And one for me!" She finished happily, clutching the last one to her chest with both hands.

"Is this _going_ somewhere?" Kaiba glared.

She appeared not to have heard him, as she was currently thoroughly occupied with twisting the two halves of the ball to open it up and reveal what was inside. She smiled brightly once this had been achieved.

"Oh! What is this one?" She blinked at it, pulling it out from inside the plastic by the short material string coming off of it, obviously meant to be used to attach it to a phone, or any other sort of device that required ornamental additions. She held it up to her eyes, and being so small Katsuya had trouble seeing what it was from a distance. It looked kind of like…

"The Unhappy Maiden," She read aloud from the small slip of paper that had come with the toy. "Yay?" She asked the spectators.

Kaiba looked suddenly amused, in that evil sort of way he had going for him. She looked confused by this, and turned to the blonde. Katsuya tried to explain without sounding derogatory; "That's uh… not a very high level card… is all."

It had an ATK of 0 and DEF of 100.

"It's even more useless than Kuriboh." Kaiba smirked.

"Than who?"

Katsuya sighed and again tried to explain it to her, "Kuriboh is a little… brown… puffy monster thing. It has more attack power than The Unhappy Maiden however, which has none and renders it, like he said, practically useless in a battle. It has an effect which makes the battle phase end so no more monsters can attack. Which would only be useful if it was face down and your opponents monster happened to attack it first. Also, no self respecting duelist would attack a face down card with a monster that only had 100 attack points, so basically it's always going to be destroyed. Making it a pretty much worthless card that no one would want to hold in their hand, unless they were really struggling to make up 40 cards and didn't have anything else at the time. It would never really be a useful card to play, only one you'd put out if you were desperate enough and had no other monsters at all in your hand under level 4. Or that you had a high level monster in your hand and you had another monster on the field and so you might play it face down in the hopes that your opponent tries to defeat it first so you would still have your other monster to sacrifice next round and thus, kick the ass of the monster you're facing…"

She blinked. "Okay you lost me at 'brown puffy thing'".

"Eh heh… sorry." He'd gotten a bit carried away. He did love playing Duel Monsters still, after all.

Kaiba was sporting the air of someone who knew all of this already, and didn't have the patience to bother listening to it again. He coughed irritably.

"Oh! Open yours Jonouchi-kun!" Niita said, recovering quickly from the rant she hadn't understood.

"Oh… um…" He withdrew it from his pocket into which it had found its way. He turned it over ponderingly in between his fingers.

Kaiba finally decided that enough was enough, being able to laugh at the all too appropriate association of Niita with one of the most useless monsters in the entire game was entertaining, but he had work to do and she, for example, currently wasn't doing hers.

"Alright, as fun as children's toys are, you both need to get out my office. Now. Niita, go back to work, I need to think about whether I'll still pay you for today."

She actually looked remorseful for a few moments, "Ah!" She finally seemed to remember something, perhaps the point of coming all this way in the first place. She reached into her bag and extracted some paper. "I needed to give you your invitation!"

She handed him, from what Katsuya could glance, a very colourful and brightly decorated card.

Kaiba took a short look at it before returning his gaze to her.

"I'm sorry, I only read monochrome." He tried to pass it back but she ignored the gesture completely, and laughed instead, assuming he was joking.

Katsuya tried to cover his amusement at the sarcasm by raising his hand to his mouth to hide his smile. He too thought the immense amount of bright pinks, reds, blues, purples, greens, and most other colours under the rainbow, was more than a little over the top. Just looking at it made you want to put sunglasses on.

"Here's one for you too." Her hand once again dipped inside her bag and returned with another equally flashy invitation.

"Um, thanks." He took it from her and squinted at it, trying to dim the bright features enough to actually read what it said.

Apparently, it was her birthday.

"You're having a party?"

"…At my _office_!?"

"It's an office party!" Niita cried cheerfully, obviously not noting the glare of death Kaiba was sending her. "I realized we haven't had one in a long time so I thought since my birthday is coming up it would be the perfect excuse to hold one!"

"You can't just hold a party in _my_ office without asking!"

"Oh no, I asked the cleaners and the security and they said it would be fine."

"Niita, I _run the company_. You need _my_ permission."

"So can she hold it?" Katsuya grinned, feeling the situation too amusing not to partake in the conversation.

"No she can not."

"Humph. Well, that's just too bad; I've already given out all of the invitations. You two are the last one's to get them."

"Well retract them."

"Kaiba, the party's next week." Although Niita wasn't his favourite person, Katsuya felt it his duty to claim loyalty to whichever side Kaiba wasn't on.

"So?"

"So people would have bought presents already."

"And I've already ordered all the alcohol." Niita added thoughtfully.

"So she _has_ to have a party!"

"I'm surprised you want to go, mutt."

"Err…" He hadn't actually gotten so far as to think of that. Shit, did this mean he was now actually obliged to come? His expression changed from amusement to worry. Kaiba looked smug with the reaction. Niita didn't notice.

"Of course Jonouchi-kun's coming!" Her face poutingly defiant. Though of what remained to be seen. "And you will be too! It starts at 5 right after work so you have no excuse to leave."

Katsuya couldn't quite work out why she wanted him there in the first place. He was also impressed at the way she was standing right up to Kaiba. Most people forgot they had spinal chords when in his presence.

Kaiba opened his mouth to protest but Niita clearly didn't want to hear it. "You wanted us to leave you said? Well, my job here is done so I will head back across town. Goodbye!" And leave she did, before he could say anything else. Katsuya felt it only appropriate to follow suit, not really wanting to be the only body left for Kaiba to take his anger at the new development out on.

With nothing better to do immediately he walked her back out of the office and to the elevators. While they waited for one to arrive she suddenly remembered something,

"Oh! Did you open yours? I think Kaiba might throw his out… but no matter." She smiled.

"Ah, no, I forgot." It had gone back into his pocket again by this stage so he brought it out.

He twisted the two halves in opposite directions to reveal the monster inside.

As recognition dawned, so did a frown.

"Huh… well if that isn't the worst case of ironic..."

Niita glanced curiously over at it. "Oooo, that's a pretty one!"

"It's not pretty, it's evil." Katsuya stated defiantly.

"How can it be evil?"

"Uh… it just is."

She looked thoughtful for a moment, "You know, it looks kinda like the dragon Kaiba is always using…"

"It _is_ the dragon Kaiba is always using."

"Aww, that's cute then!"

"No, it's retardedly stupid."

"Oh, you don't like this Blue-White Dragon thing?"

He corrected her on the name automatically.

"So you _do_ like this dragon?"

"No!"

"So you don't like dragons?"

"No, I like dragons. Just not this one."

"Hmmm… well, maybe you will like this dragon eventually? Once you get to know it better."

"Once I get to… Wait, why do I get the feeling we're using a metaphor here?"

"Because we are."

He blinked, shocked. "What are you…?" He turned to look at her but she was already walking into the lift. She looked as vacant as ever as she waved cheerfully and said goodbye, reminding him that he should attend her party. He didn't say anything else as the doors closed and she disappeared.

He glanced down at the tiny phone charm in his hand. He should throw it away, certainly. But… there wasn't a bin nearby. So he'd have to do it later.

He put the dragon back into his pocket, and out of his mind.

Later never really came around, even when he re-discovered it that night. Instead it was discarded with another bout of thoughtful contemplation, to somewhere in the vicinity of his coffee table.

* * *

Seto forgot all about his gashapon toy until much later in the day when he could finally start on the new work ahead of him. Upon seeing it he had immediately been overtaken with the instinct to simply throw it out; however curiosity was an equally demanding impulse. Like many people, when presented with a box, Seto could do nothing but be filled with a desire to open it.

So at the end of the day in packing up his things he threw it into his bag for inspection once he was sitting safely inside his car, being driven home. Finally able to relax at the end of the week, he pulled out the small capsule once again and eased open one half of the egg. He was not entirely surprised at what he found.

Two tiny red eyes stared up at him, like a small child fiercely defying its larger parent. He'd always harbored a special dislike of this monster; its association not only with Jonouchi but also with one of his loses to Yugi. Naturally, in its normal form the Red-Eyes Black Dragon couldn't even _compare_ to his Blue-Eyes. Seto viewed it as a monster inferior to his own favored dragon, and frowned down at the tiny plastic form it had now been reduced to. He wondered if the Blue-Eyes looked as pitifully cute with a phone-charm identity. He supposed he'd never find out.

Seto pondered whether or not he should lower his window and simply throw it out at high speed, he certainly wasn't about to actually attach it to his mobile. Especially seeing which Duel Monster card it was. As he took another look at it, thoughts about what had happened a week ago came unbidden to his mind. Eyes widening, he shook his head firmly and shoved the toy back into the darkness of his bag and out of sight.

Out of mind.

He took to staring out the window instead, vowing to throw it out when he got home. However the notion soon flew from his head as he forced himself to concentrate on something else, watching the city landscape blur past, so that once he got home he had completely forgotten about it. He only found it hours later, unpacking his bag. He gave it a few moments of contemplation before sighing resignedly and placing it on his desk, a sign that even if he didn't want to, he knew he was going to have to consider the dragon much more seriously some time in the future.

* * *

A/N: Some terms you probably already understood:

Obaa-san - Grandmother, or an old woman. In this case Mokuba isn't actually calling her his literal grandmother, but feels that he is close enough to her to be less formal than using her own name.

Nii-sama - extremely polite way of referring to ones older brother. The honorific 'sama' is usually translated into English as 'Lord'. So.. "Lord Older Brother". Yeah. Mokuba is just being exceeding respectful 'coz he, you know, respects Seto so much…

Gashapon - I don't know how sucky my description of these things was in the story, but basically they're like a toy vending machine. They vary in cost... from 100 yen to about 600 yen. (Or otherwise, like I said, it depends). You put your money in, turn the handle, and a ball falls out with a toy inside. I don't actually know if they sell YGO Gashapon in Japan, or if they sell any like the ones I invented for the sake of the chapter. If anyone knows if they DO make them, tell me, coz I'd totally love one XD Oh right.. yeah.. so the term also refers to both the machine and the toy itself. They are about as explicitly for little kids as YGO itself is…

Arubaito - Part-time job

Crap, my notes keep getting longer and longer. Sorry about this. What I actually wanted to write here…

>> >> >>READ FROM UNDER THIS LINE 

was that I know you want better S/J stuff to happen, and I'm sorry. Please consider this like a part one of two (that's how I view the next couple of chapters in any case, this chapter being more or less a required chapter to set up the next one) and part two DOES include some PROPER happy go lucky Seto/Jou stuff for you guys. But bear in mind that this is meant to be just a cute/funny story about the couple and how they get together… not about they endless sex they have once they do.

Sorry if that crushes your hopes and dreams, but I felt it needed to be said.

Normally around this point I'd offer you muffins, unfortunately I'm a terrible cook. Sorry again.


	9. Party

Ch 9 (Party)

* * *

Edit: I'm really sorry if this hit your inbox twice. The first time I uploaded it, it didn't seem to work. I couldn't see it at all. I waited a bit but it still didn't seem to be appearing, it said there was a 9 there, but when you went into the story there was only 8. It wasn't appearing as a recent update in the series search either. So I'm resubmitting it now in the hopes that this time it actually works. Anyhow, please, continue, from what this should be:

* * *

A/N: I find it hard not to be predictable. I think, if I ever have a chance to write another lengthy fiction in the future, I will try harder to find a plot with more surprises. Until then, I hope you can stand reading whilst thinking: "Oh yes, I see where this is going."

-Etsuyo

Disclaimer: Not only do I not own Yu-gi-oh! (property of Kazuki Takahashi) but I also do not own Nintendo, Zelda, Monopoly, Starbucks, all day and night deli's, Pizza, Ryou's stripy shirt, a can of coke, two dollars and ten cents, a car, a ball, a cat, red gloves, a helicopter, some chocolate, or a bus ticket.

* * *

"_Well why don't you just take my heart and rip it out and throw it on the floor and stamp on it then!? Because that's what it feels like you're doing!"_

"_Wait… you don't understand!"_

"Neither do I… what's this chick's problem?"

"Shhhhh!"

"_Oh, I understand just fine. You're in love with her!"_

"_No! Listen to me, I love __**you**__."_

"_LIAR!"_

"He probably is you know. Look at the way he looks all evil and stuff! …Definitely screwing around with the other chick."

"I said SHHHH!!"

"_Melissa, please!"_

"…_Just tell me one thing; why her? What makes her better than me?"_

"Maybe she has bigger breasts?"

"Jou! Shut up!"

"What? She probably does."

Anzu hit him with a pillow.

"_I… I can't tell you."_

"_You always say that! But __**why**__ can't you? John, tell me… tell me why it is… who is she, really?"_

Anzu gasped mid-attack; she moved and clutched the pillow tightly to her chest instead of using it as a weapon. Her eyes had widened at the pause in conversation, the moment tense. The dramatic music was proof of that.

"What's with the gasping?"

"Melanie is Melissa's sister. The one she thinks John has been seeing. But he's only been interested in finding out more about her because she used to be his wife. Although she died in a car accident last season, and now Melissa is carrying his baby. But she doesn't know that Melanie was also pregnant before she died and that the evil doctor took the embryo out and planted it into Allison's body, so Allison is also carrying John's baby. And now Melanie is back from the dead! And she wants to get rid of her sister for moving in on her territory and marrying John four weeks after her funeral. And only _she_ knows who really died in the accident! Also, John's half-brother Michael thinks that Allison's baby is his, but he's in love with Melissa, so he tried to kill Allison's baby by making her OD and now Allison is in hospital with a coma and Melissa just found out John has been seen talking to some strange woman so she thinks he's cheating on her and is in love with someone else and now she's asking him who it is and so will he tell her about Melanie!?"

"…You know, I think I'm going to get something to eat."

Anzu didn't move her eyes from the screen whilst Katsuya got up and left her to it. His head was beginning to hurt from the recital.

They had been watching a DVD of one of Anzu's favourite soap operas, which Mai had introduced her to some years before. It was an English TV show, which explained the English names. They needed to watch it with subtitles of course, and had to wait for DVDs to be released with these in Japan. Mai being Mai had downloaded illegal subs of every season months ago upon their actual release, but Anzu being the kind spirited person she was had bought the legal discs when they came out anyway. Today's disc was today's purchase, and she had eagerly explained that she couldn't wait until later to begin watching it. Say, when she wasn't in Jou's home surrounded by male friends who watched for two minutes and then either burst out laughing, into tears, or walked off shaking slightly with their eyes widened in fright.

Katsuya's reaction reflected somewhat a mixture of all three as he went to join Honda in the kitchen. He had excused himself for food but in reality they didn't have any yet. Yugi and Ryou had gone out to get some kind of takeaway. It might have been pizza.

"I commend you. You managed to survive the longest. Here, have a prize." Honda offered Katsuya half of a biscuit he was currently eating.

"Tempting, but no thanks." He opened his fridge and peered inside. He was starving, why couldn't fast food be ready just _that_ much faster? He made a noise that was somewhat a cross between a whine, a groan, and a growl, knowing that he probably shouldn't drink the chocolate sauce straight from the bottle. "Maybe if we call them they'll get here quicker?"

Honda looked like he doubted the logic in that, "Uh yeah… maybe."

The boys exited the kitchen, which was getting cramped with two people as it was. Katsuya didn't have a very big apartment – he was a student, there was no way he could have afforded one. As it was he had to live miles away from his college and workplace just to rent something even this size.

They were still speaking as they re-entered the lounge room, and this earned them a very loud "SHHHH!!!" from Anzu, accompanied by a quick glare.

"_But how could that be true, my sister is dead! Are you trying to tell me someone __**else**__ was killed that night?"_

"_I'm not sure Melissa… I'm just not sure… Maybe it was Melanie's twin sister Miranda?"_

The front door suddenly opened, and voices sounded from that vicinity.

Upon hearing this Katsuya said "Oh thank God!" at the same time as Honda said "Finally!" and both mentally added 'Because I don't think I could have taken much more of this.'

They rushed to help with the pizzas. Many boxes had been ordered; when presented with hunger there was seemingly no limit to how much pizza any one of them could devour. And everyone seemed to be hungry tonight.

"Thank you." Ryou said as Honda took some out of his hands.

"Good timing," The brunet returned, "The show was just about to take another turn for the spastic."

"Eh?" Yugi questioned, clearly having forgotten about the soap opera drama that he and Ryou had left them to deal with, as Katsuya took the top most boxes that were threatening to block the smaller duelist's vision.

"Melissa was just wondering whether the man she thinks John is having an affair with is her supposedly dead sister Melanie's twin sister Miranda."

They stared at him. "Pardon?" Ryou tried after a moment.

Yugi laughed, "I think you've been watching it a little too long Jou!"

Honda was laughing too, "Yeah, anyone would think you were beginning to like that stuff!"

Katsuya glared in annoyance, "No way! I've watched 15 minutes of that show and I can safely say that it is possibly the worst piece of rubbish I have ever seen in my entire life. Honest to God, who makes up that kind of shit? And why on Earth anyone would find it interesting is beyond me."

"Anzu seems to." Ryou pointed out.

"Yes but she's a _woman_; they're weird like that."

The other three boys nodded in thoughtful agreement.

Katsuya looked over his shoulder back into his lounge room. It was time to end the soapie.

He called out; "Pizza Anzu! You'll have to turn off your kooky show!" as he walked back into the room.

"I can watch and eat at the same time." She informed him, her eyes barely moving from the TV set whilst he offered her a box. Honda sat down on the couch beside her, and Ryou next to him.

"Oh no.. um.. new house rule: No TV whilst eating." Katsuya said quickly.

Honda turned to him with a look that asked clearly whether he'd gone insane. Food and TV went together like eggs and bacon. Like ducks and water. Like celebrities and divorce. Most of the time, you couldn't have one without the other!

"Fine." Anzu smiled and turned the off TV, also stopping her DVD. There was a silence that followed only interrupted by the sounds of Yugi getting himself a drink in the kitchen. Katsuya took a seat opposite them on the floor (his small place didn't exactly come with many lounge type chairs) and looked from the television to the pizza to his friends all sitting there not eating and staring at him as if waiting for him to come to a better decision. Anzu looked somewhat victorious.

"Uh… guys?" Yugi placed a can of soda somewhat tentatively on the coffee table, breaking the silence. He then took a seat on the floor as well.

Finally Katsuya looked at Anzu and frowned, "Okay, rule is: no _crappy English soap operas_ whilst eating."

She looked a little put-out that they all hadn't taken to her interest as much as she had, but the announcement made them begin eating at least. And since she was just as hungry as the rest of them, she soon moved past the loss of her program. Plus it was only temporary, since as soon as she got home she would most certainly put it back on again and find out what happened next.

Unfortunately (or ironically) there was nothing remotely interesting to watch on TV once they actually turned it on, so (as per usual) they decided to resort to games instead. The Nintendo Wii only ever got played when Anzu was over, since some of the games actually required coordination, and this meant she had the opportunity of upstaging everyone else on a gaming platform. That and, the console was just more fun when other people were around. It had a fantastic interactive element, but it was so much more interesting throwing your arm through a plate glass door whilst other people were there to watch than it was to do so on your own.

Puns at the ridiculous choice of name aside, Katsuya regretted ever splashing out for the Wii. (Although truth be told he had needed to go thirds with Yugi and Honda for it, but they kept it at his house since this was the place they now convened at the most). Beating Twilight Princess was cool once, or even twice, but after that, and the initial marvel at the way the motion sensor was _so totally awesome!!_ then it got old fast.

Once they'd all eaten to their hearts content, they decided to open a board game Ryou had been sent from England by his family. Katsuya couldn't pronounce it properly, but it was spelt "Monopoly".

Ryou was the only one of them who could speak English perfectly. Anzu was decently aware of how to converse in it; since she still hoped to make it to America one day to study dance she had tried to keep up her language skills. However the other three boys had been forgetting things since they no longer studied it like they had been forced to in high school. Yugi had once said that studying Ancient Egyptian would have been more useful to him.

What this meant was that they all spent a considerable amount of time trying to guess what the rules were, just by looking at the pieces and board rather than tackling the English instructions. Finally, after picking himself off the floor from laughing so much at Honda's inability to properly say "Gaol", Ryou attempted to explain it to them. He didn't, however, expand on the fact that it was probably odd this version of the game had decided to spell it that way in the first place.

Eventually they picked up on how to start, how to move and how to buy property. They eventually went so far as to actually enjoy playing, mainly by struggling with the English words and laughing over the stupidity of the other language. It had always struck Katsuya as incredibly dumb that one letter in their alphabet could have so many different pronunciations. Honda had always had a slight problem differentiating "a" and "d".

"It's exactly the same just with a little longer line!" He had cried exasperatedly on many occasions in class.

Ryou found all of this thoroughly amusing. He didn't, however, bring up the fact that most westerners studying Japanese would probably have said similar things about their language. He would have been hit with a sheer wall of rebuttal had he done that.

Katsuya was the first to go bankrupt. Honda didn't spare him numerous jibes at the fact that this was entirely typical. He just took it all in his stride. Anzu began to loose money too, and eventually Honda followed. It became clear that although Ryou had bought most of the mortgaged property, Yugi still had the edge. Eventually the white haired boy forfeited.

Ryou declared that he should be getting home, and most other people murmured something in the way of agreement. Katsuya threw them all goodbyes as they left, then turned to where Anzu was still getting her DVD out of the machine, the last to leave the house.

He started stacking plates as she put the disc back into its case with an audible 'click'. Then she stood, shouldering her bag, but hesitated before leaving. He looked up at her questioningly.

"Um, Jou… When we cleared the stuff off the coffee table to play that board game, I found this." She produced a tiny white dragon from behind a couch pillow, where she had obviously stashed it upon finding it earlier, and held it out so he could see.

Katsuya immediately went bright red, unable to even will himself to hide his emotions for once; he'd completely forgotten about the little charm.

"Uhh…"

She smiled at his reaction, clearly amused. "What's going on, eh Jonouchi?"

"Nothing!" He replied immediately. "I didn't even realize that was there. Niita gave it to me." He added the last bit hastily.

"Oh? Who's Niita?"

"She's Kaiba's PA. She's… weird."

"Right." Said Anzu, dismissing the woman immediately, "What I'm more interested in is _why _she gave _this_ particular charm to you."

Katsuya sighed heavily, he didn't think there was any way to escape retelling the story now. It wasn't that big of a deal anyway right? Although, he was extremely grateful she had decided to hide it and question him about it once his friends had left. If Honda had seen it there might have been no end to the pay outs he would have received.

Thus, he spilled the story of last Saturday.

"I see. And you just decided you might want to keep it then did you?"

"No honestly, I completely forgot it was there until now."

She raised her eyebrow disbelievingly.

"Really!"

She turned from the charm she was holding back to him, "What do you think of Kaiba?" She asked seriously, having since already sat back down on the couch, bag beside her feet. He was still sitting opposite on the floor across the table.

Katsuya shrugged, "He's a prat."

"You don't sound very convincing." Anzu pointed out.

He frowned, knowing she was probably right. He sighed; well, he'd just spilled one confession so what could it hurt to spill another. "I don't know. I don't think I hate him. It's weird."

"Mmmm?" She tried to press him to continue. She was well aware how little boys liked to share their emotions, and how well they handled talking about them out loud. She felt as if she had been blessed with just this much already.

He debated telling her the truth about the 'closet incident', but for the moment just couldn't bring himself to do so; "Like, he doesn't seem that much of a wanker anymore or something. When he first took over Nobita's job I thought he would fire me for sure, or at least make my life a living hell. But he didn't do either of those things. He didn't even fire me after I bashed his head against the storage shelves!"

Anzu nodded in agreement, and showing that she was paying close attention to what he had to say.

"But he's still Kaiba. He's still arrogant and glares at everyone and looks like if he smiled it would cause him immense amounts of pain. I dunno… he just seems… less so of that? He's, you know, _tolerable._" Katsuya stopped, not quite sure he was explaining it properly and not sure at all of how to continue.

Anzu quickly took the sign and jumped in, "Wow. I never thought I'd hear you say something like that."

He rolled his eyes, "Shut up. This doesn't mean I actually like him or that we're friends or anything. I just don't hate him. There's a difference."

She smiled, "Yes but coming from you that's significant."

Why did he suddenly feel like she was his therapist?

"Ah well," sensing that this conversation should be continued at a later date, Anzu stood up; "That still doesn't _really_ explain why you're holding on to a cute little Blues-Eyes White Dragon, but I'll let that slide for today." She grinned at him and headed towards the door, placing the figure on his counter as she passed.

"Uh… yeah… about that. Thanks for not, you know, bringing it up around Yugi and them." He said, following her a little way.

"No problem. I figured that wouldn't have put you in a good position if it had been something a little _more_ significant." She winked, still smiling.

Katsuya gaped, was she implying…

"Relax Jou! Your secret is safe with me." She teased, laughing at his reaction.

"But I'm not… it's not…" He spluttered.

"Ha ha, I _know_. Don't worry, even if it was I wouldn't care. You're my friend no matter what you do." Then she smiled genuinely, reassuringly. And he found himself smiling appreciatively back.

"See you later then!" She said, and then turned and left. The door closed loudly behind her and Katsuya just stood there for a moment thinking. Eventually he turned and let his eyes travel to the tiny figure left on the counter. He glared at it in frustration, but finally, after what seemed like a long time, he pocketed it. Then he began the laborious clean up process that always ensued after having lots of people over. Luckily with pizza, there weren't many dishes.

* * *

"So this copy's mine?"

"That's what I said."

"I'll just get to work reading it now then, shall I?"

"That's… what I said."

It was a commonly accepted truth that Monday was one of the worst days of the week. Fact was, it followed Sunday and came before Tuesday, and it was the first of, in Seto's case anyway, six working days to follow. Being the first, Monday came with the somewhat depressing thought that your weekly burden was only just beginning, and that there was so much more to come. At least by Wednesday or Thursday one could be comforted by the knowledge that you were over half way there… Not long now. On Monday, however, you could not think any of these things; rather you were stuck with the disgruntling information that it was no longer Sunday, and that yes, you were back in this wretched place once again.

This Monday was particularly aggravating. Currently the main cause of this was sitting opposite him reading. And, it was perfectly fine to read. But there was something somewhat unnerving about having a business acquaintance sit at your desk and just read in silence, when you were trying to get on with your own work. Yahada wasn't watching _him_ or anything, he was fully engrossed in the report Seto had given him to look over, but he hadn't expected the man to sit there on the spot and begin it. Not only did he have his own office on a different floor, but there was even a break room on this one, or if he really couldn't have survived a room smelling of spilt microwavable soup, then there were a couple of business lounge chairs set up in the CEO's office that at least would have taken him out of Seto's immediate line of sight.

Feeling that it would only be more awkward to mention it the longer the minutes ticked on, he interrupted the silence with; "Uh… you can take your time with that. Perhaps you would like to read it later?"

Luckily, Yahada was one to pick up on subtle hints, "Oh of course! Sorry. I'll…" He closed his open report and made to stand up, when the door to Seto's office opened.

Niita bounced inside. "How're things going?" She had a habit of checking up on him at regular intervals.

Seto ignored the question, "Is there something you need?"

Apparently she, in turn, was already ignoring him also. "Oh! Hello, sorry I didn't realize you were in here." She smiled apologetically at Yahada.

The taller man blinked, "I passed you on the way in."

"Oh, of course." She looked a bit doubtful however. "I'm Niita."

Yahada inclined his head, "Yahada Youshi."

"And I'm Kaiba Seto. I'm so glad that we had this chat."

Niita turned to him, looking like she really wanted to poke her tongue out.

Yahada finally stood up, "I'll get back to you about this later, Kaiba-san." He waved the report a little in indication.

"Oh, where are you going?" Niita sounded slightly whiney, like she didn't want him to go and leave her all alone.

"Uh… to my office?" Yahada, at full height, was actually quite tall. She had raise her chin considerably to look him in the eye; she was slightly shorter than Jonouchi after all.

"Oh, okay. Well, come back and visit anytime!"

"This isn't your _house_, Niita!"

"In fact, come to my birthday party at the office this Friday! I'm afraid I'm out of invitations but you can take a look at Kaiba's."

Seto groaned, not that stupid party again. He didn't want to imagine how much mess that was going to cause.

"Um, I'll think about it." He smiled at her, nodded to Kaiba, then left, closing the office door behind him.

There was a moment of silence.

"He seems nice, doesn't he?"

Seto resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "I don't know. Now do you actually have anything to tell me or do you just enjoy wasting my time?"

Niita looked like she didn't understand the question, "Huh?"

He glared, "Why did you come in?"

"Oh… um… Just to see how things were going."

"They're fine. The door is over there." Seto pointed at the more than obvious door. Maybe he would install a green flashing 'exit' sign, just for further clarification.

Never one to miss an opportunity to use her teaching degree skills, and to right the actions of others, Niita replied; "You know, if you started being a little nicer to people, you might find that not everyone is as heartless and evil as you seem to think they are. You also might find that you get a positive response." She added a little 'humph' for emphasis.

"You sound like a text book. Thank you so much for the information, now will you please leave? I have work to do."

Niita sniffed, but did leave after that, closing the door a little more violently than usual.

Seto tapped his keyboard in agitation, he disliked Niita at the best of times, but when she decided he was due for another round of "telling you how to better correct your behavior" it began to annoy him even more. He didn't enjoy other people informing him of how wrong he was. He was well aware of how he treated other people. Other people annoyed him in their pettiness and irksome behavior. If he didn't like someone he wasn't going to simply be polite around them just so that they wouldn't bite back. He preferred to let them know how he felt, so that they could get out of his way and he could move on past.

He couldn't stand useless people.

This was one of the reasons he disliked Niita. Most of what she did held no purpose. She wasted time and her actions didn't always have a point. Seto was all about production, about getting things done. If something broke you fixed it so it could work again, or if it couldn't be fixed you got a new one.

Then there was upgrading. Sometimes, a tool simply outlived its usefulness. Newer models took the place of old ones, which eventually ceased to be stocked, and finally all broke and were dumped into waste, ultimately either melted down or decomposed.

Vaguely, this was the theory of evolution, and something Seto believed in. Someone had once explained it to him using the example of the giraffe. He couldn't remember the exact wording, and also having no real intimate knowledge of that particular species, but it went something like this:

The food of giraffes can be found in tall African trees. To begin with, giraffes didn't have such long necks, but thousands of years ago when all giraffes had shorter necks, they found they had trouble reaching the leaves of the high trees. As with any species, not all giraffes were the same. Some had slightly longer necks than others. These giraffes were able to reach the food more easily. Eventually, the shorter giraffes died of hunger, and the taller necked giraffes multiplied, and passed on the taller neck genes. But having so many slightly taller giraffes cut gravely into the leaves available on the lower branches of the tree. Eventually, the only leaves left were on the higher branches. The process began again. The slightly shorter giraffes died out, and the taller ones survived. They passed on their DNA, and giraffes' necks got longer and longer as evolution continued. The idea was that life, even as it is today, is still evolving. Our children weren't exactly likely to have elongated necks, the process took thousands of years to cycle. But maybe one day humans would change again. It was the survival of the fittest, and only the tallest giraffes were left.

Seto took a moment to try and remember why the hell he was thinking about all of this. Oh yes. Niita. Maybe she had simply outlived her usefulness too?

Okay that made him sound like some sort of mafia boss, ready to give the okay for someone to whack her off (which, as he entertained the idea for a moment, wasn't such a bad one). Certainly, however, once Yahada took over at Shichi he was determined to do something about her. It wasn't like him at all to begin with to keep on an employee he a. didn't like, and that b. could be entirely unreliable a lot of the time. He had just been snowed under with the take over and then the decline in production. He hadn't had time to work on any new game designs, anything that was to do with what he actually _liked_ about this job. Because, believe it or not, there were aspects of it he enjoyed. So he was definitely going to have to fire her or… something… as soon as he had time to interview a replacement.

That confirmed, Seto found he almost couldn't wait for Yahada to take over. Not switching office's would be great but not having Niita around would be like winning a brand new car.

For any normal human being at least, Seto could buy any car he wanted. Hell, he owned a jet. Enough said.

But it would make him happier, and that was the point.

He finally turned back to his own work with renewed enthusiasm, it may have been Monday, but soon it would be Tuesday. Followed by Wednesday, which was almost Thursday. Which was almost the end of the week.

_See,_ he found himself mentally thinking in Niita's direction, _I can be a positive person._

* * *

Back-to-work-Tuesday came all too quickly for Katsuya's liking. He was starting to mildly feel the classic pressure of the 'job, uni, social life' combination. Namely, that it was hard to juggle all three and not have at least one of them come crashing down onto your head. He felt that so far he wasn't doing too badly with this, after all he'd been working at Shichi Corporation for… uh… how many months now? 3? 2? 4? The timeline was getting a little blurry as the plot progressed.

Today's shift was particularly cold and boring. The central heating was being repaired so walking into the office presented a strange picture of most of the workers wearing their outdoor coats. They had set up a few stand heaters throughout the floor at strategic places, however unless ones desk happened to be situated right next to one, the effect wasn't really felt by the general population. The largest of these was located in the break room; this saw a dramatic 425 increase in staff breaks throughout the day, and a 239 increase in dawdling in front of it before getting back to their desks. Most people were too cold to engage in long conversation, friends greeted each other with a sneeze and a nod and then walked on by. It was the late autumn season, almost but not quite definably winter weather, so people were now developing colds from the change in temperature. The flu period would pass once it hit December at which point peoples noses would be too frozen to even consider the possibility of contracting something.

All in all this was adding up to be a particularly boring way to spend the afternoon. There was less enthusiasm about than a nerd at a football match. Katsuya found himself, having no defined workspace of his own to speak of, running between heaters and pausing briefly by them on his way from room to room. Naturally, Seto had his own heater in his own office. Oh the joys of being able to boss people around and order them to hand over their heaters. Upon commandeering the appliance currently warming up his office, he had considered using the phrase; "The heater or your life." but felt it would have lost some of its appropriateness since he had not also been holding a gun.

With the lack of industrialized room heating, and his darting between 'hot spots', Katsuya found himself back in Kaiba's office on more occasions than necessary that shift. At one point he had shamefully gone back to make sure he had received the right files, knowing fully well he had, but had instead used it as an opportunity to de-frost his hands. This time, however, his excuse was a little more legitimate, as he needed to hand the CEO some photocopying.

Katsuya entered without knocking, as usual, to find the taller man deep in thought instead of typing hastily or writing fervently as was the more common occurrence. He didn't even look up as the blond walked in.

"You and the wall having another staring contest?" Katsuya prodded, unable to let some of his grin escape his lips. When Seto didn't reply or even blink in acknowledgement of the other, Katsuya continued; "'Coz, you know, as hard as you try, the wall beats you every time. Guess that's another competition you can't win at." He said in an off-handed kind of way, hoping it would irk the brunet enough to snap him out of his inner stare-provoking thoughts and back to the present.

It worked.

Kaiba shot him a glare, "It's called thinking."

"You what?" Katsuya blinked innocently, maintaining his small grin.

Seto raised an eyebrow and barely repressed a smirk, "I'm aware the term is foreign to you."

Katsuya bit back numerous swear words and took a deep breath before continuing, determined not to walk down that path that was sure to get him fired; "So what were you thinking about then, that had the wall begging for mercy?"

An essential part of the plan was to maintain conversation. Without it there was no reason to be in there, and with no reason to be in there he couldn't continue to bask in the supplied heat.

He saw Kaiba's eyes shift unwittingly back to check his computer. Katsuya followed his gaze and took a few more steps forwards to get a better look.

"What's that?" He asked, pointing to the pictures displayed on the screen.

"Work." Seto replied curtly.

"Looks more like pictures of a theme park to me."

"Perhaps you have forgotten what kind of business I actually run?"

"Oh yeah." Katsuya mocked a thoughtful face and emphasized the 'e', dragging the word out. When he had first met Kaiba, Katsuya recalled some of his initial thoughts being 'Damn, must be fun to have a job playing video games all day long'. Now, years later, when he could finally see what it was the CEO actually did (and also the kind of person he actually was) he found he envied him a lot less. Because, you know, he didn't _really_ sit around all day testing games. Or at least he didn't when Katsuya was around. Who knew what that man got up to at his other office.

"Maybe you should call it 'KaibaTopia.'"

Seto rolled his eyes, "Maybe I should make you head of the Creative Development Department?"

"No seriously, and you could have these little talking Kaiba-dolls that you pull a string on the back and they say 'Get out of my way, inferior human being.'"

"I'll be sure to make the suggestion, though I doubt it will take off."

"It'll be huge!"

Seto found that by this stage his mouth had found its way into somewhat of an amused smirk. Who knew that there was a more entertaining way to converse with Jonouchi than to simply berate him for being an incompetent mutt?

Katsuya was grinning broadly in a sarcastic way whilst making the insane suggestions, although he _could_ picture a kind of Kaiba talking doll that dished insults with every activation.

"I think the general population would probably disagree with you."

"Oh yeah? We'll see. They'll sell faster than ice cream in July."

"Interesting analogy. You should join marketing as well."

Katsuya made a noise that sounded like 'pfffft'. "Unfortunately not everyone can appreciate my creative genius."

Seto turned back to his screen, "I think it's safe to say that it's better left untapped."

Katsuya shrugged, and made to leave the office; he never expected to stay long, his presence not exactly welcome as far as he was aware, simply long enough to let the heat reach his bones, then it was out into the colder part of the floor again until he felt the need for another break. "Kaiba Corps. loss, really."

Seto averted his eyes from his work to see him go. For once he didn't feel the need to have the last word, a reply really wasn't necessary. This was understandably an odd occurrence. Unfortunately, the incident was just adding more material to his folder containing suspicions about how he was beginning to feel towards the shorter blond boy. Today's striking revelation that he actually enjoyed talking to Jonouchi when the two were having a civil conversation was first off the top for contemplation. He began to hypothesize reasons for this. He wondered, for example, why he had never felt so inclined into dialogue in the past. He thought maybe it was because he had never given such an action a chance. When they had met it had always been at a dueling event, and so naturally Seto would always have been distracted by this fact. Also, he had forever (and still did) considered Jonouchi to be a somewhat second-rate duelist, compared to himself, and Yugi who was the only person he acknowledged as a rival. This meant that he had paid him little attention at all, although he certainly tried to make his presence very obvious. Now that they were working together, however, Seto felt the situation had changed completely. His earliest reservations at the fact had yet to be proved. Instead, the boy turned out to be a reliable worker. He had amazed the CEO by actually being useful for once, and giving him little opportunity to criticize. It in turn forced him to speak and associate with the blond in a less distracting situation. Essentially, it gave him a chance to actually get to know Jonouchi, and discover that maybe he wasn't as much of a pathetic, irritating dog after all. Which, rounding off back to today's deliberations, allowed him to discover that he now held an interest in what the boy had to say. He hadn't spent any real time with him, but theorized that if he had, that wouldn't have been so bad either.

That accepted, all that was left to do now was to work out all the _other_ things he suspected he might have been beginning to feel towards his assistant. However _those_ he wasn't inclined to touch with a ten foot pole, so he figured he'd done enough self-analysis for one day, and left it to continue to work on his project.

* * *

As was tradition, Friday came around after Thursday had finished. Katsuya didn't normally work on this day, and had been planning to use it as the perfect excuse to escape having to attend Niita's office birthday party. (Seto didn't have as much luck in this respect as he normally spent Friday's at his actual office, so would be there anyway when it started – he planned on leaving as soon as he was no longer within eyesight of the bleach-haired nail-polish-wearing sorry excuse for a personal assistant.) Unfortunately, birthday girl had made one of her customary check-up calls the previous afternoon whilst Katsuya had been in Kaiba's office. She had heard him through the phone and it had reminded her to reminded Seto to remind Jou that he should be coming, in fact she _expected_ him to be coming to her party tomorrow. A pained expression had crossed his face as he had realized what the CEO was talking to her about.

Seto was retelling it in the way people tend to do so over the phone. The kind of: "Oh? Strawberries you say? Yes I'll get someone to pick them up for you at the fruit shop on the corner with the 24/7 and the Starbucks." This was done so that another person who was in the room could understand what the person on the phone and whomever was on the other end in another location were talking about. Except in this case what Seto actually said was something more along the lines of: "Oh? Birthday party you say? Why yes, Jonouchi-_kun__is _coming! He can't wait. He's practically jumping up and down with excitement." Although naturally he said it in a less chirpy and more Seto-like way.

Katsuya wasn't, in fact, jumping up and down. He was waving his hands franticly to mutely plead for Kaiba to tell her he couldn't make it, but when the taller man reinterpreted this to her with the opposite meaning he quickly stopped and started mouthing death threats instead. As Seto was hanging up Jou launched a pen at his head, then quickly left the room muttering loudly about getting him back for this.

And so he had to make his own way to the party that night, and spent the whole trip wondering why on Earth he was bothering. For starters he had been forced into this by other people, and he had all the right to say no, and secondly he honestly couldn't exactly call Niita a friend. He'd met her on two occasions, be they recent or not, and found her to be an extremely odd and slightly irritating person. He blamed this, once again, on his 'good-guy' nature. Since becoming friends with Yugi he had developed into a whole lot more charitable person. He just couldn't say no. Maybe if he'd actually had some other prior commitments tonight… but he did not, and so found himself stepping out of an elevator and deciding within ten seconds that he would find the first excuse to leave that became available to him.

He'd only been here once before, and honestly now it didn't look very different. It was still the same office, just with bad music playing. He'd heard these things usually ended up down the road at a bar somewhere, having an "office party" was probably just a handy excuse to have somewhere to convene, or a handy excuse to trash the place.

The music was coming from his left, so he followed it to its source. This, he presumed, must have been the break room. Someone had gone to a decent amount of effort, and Katsuya made the assumption that it might have been Niita herself. Not only because most of the balloons were red and pink, but because everything else together suggested such a level of uncoordinated colour that only really rivaled a two year old with a new set of crayons.

A few people bothered to glance his way as he walked in. Many of the responses to his presence were the same as Sasaki's had been when she had first laid eyes on him. That was, they seemed slightly astonished that someone like _him_ was somewhere like _here._ Many of them suspected he might have been a new cleaner.

Katsuya had sternly not bothered to dress up. He supposed even some of these people would look slightly more humane if they had not all attended coming straight from work. So they were, therefore, all still in their 'work clothes', which consisted of a sea of dark blacks, browns, and grays. Jou was wearing jeans and a dark green jacket, so blended nicely with the decorations but not with the people. He was used to it, however, being blond amongst a genetically black-haired race of people had its disadvantages. Then again, so did having tri-coloured, spiky hair that was twice the size of your own head. At least he didn't envy Yugi in that area.

He scanned the sea of heads trying to find the person who had actually asked him to come. Then, as if by some sixth sense Niita suddenly burst out of the crowd before him. Looking up straight at him her smile instantly became broader.

Katsuya noted, with some disdain, that she appeared to already be slightly inebriated, "Jonouchi-kuuun!" She threw her arms around his neck and gave him a tight hug. He recoiled automatically, trying to back away from the onslaught. Luckily she let him go after a moment and took a step back. "I'm glad you came! I don't really know you very well but I think you'd be a nice person if I did." She nodded in what she clearly considered to be a thoughtful way.

"Have a drink." She suggested as an afterthought, then proceeded to grab his arm and pull him in the direction of food and a cooler presumably containing alcohol. She waved and smiled and greeted every single person she passed. Katsuya noticed the reactions from them were quite mixed. Some threw her looks which suggested they would have been happier addressed by a person trying to steal their wallet, others replied enthusiastically and smiled back.

Getting lost in the middle of a crowd of people he didn't know was not what he had hoped to do. Then again, he had no idea what he _had_ hoped to do. He also noted, passing the employees, that he was easily the youngest person there. Niita herself was young, but still beat him by at least five or six years.

His thoughts were interrupted abruptly by Niita thrusting a bottle of something into his chest. He caught it before it could fall to the ground, she obviously hadn't been inclined to keep holding it until he took it. In fact, her attention had already switched to someone else.

_She's even more absent-minded when tipsy._ Katsuya thought, not even glancing at what she'd given him, and putting it on the table behind him. Sometimes, drinking led to a feeling of relaxation. Relaxation led to being okay with whatever situation was presented. He did _not_ want to be okay with being here. Even if the alcohol _was_ currently free. It was an inhibitor. And it would stop him from carrying out his plan of leaving as soon as possible. It also inhibited other things, like rational thought, driving, hand-nose coordination, the ability to sit straight on bar stools, motor skills, judgment of the attractiveness of a person of the opposite sex, knowledge of the periodic table, and why petrol and lighters shouldn't be friends. It also took down the wall that normally reminded you that you were a bad singer and don't dance well.

It did, however, enhance your ability to sleep on the floor.

Katsuya wasn't keen to entertain any of that right now.

"Not drinking tonight?" Everyone just kept interrupting his brain it seemed. He turned to see Yahada smiling down at him. Jou couldn't help but return it; he was a nice guy, and it was infectious. He had discovered this having to show the taller man around the office for the afternoon. He apparently had the patience of a rock, putting up with Katsuya's lame attempts to find things to do to give Kaiba time to finish his work for the whole afternoon without complaining once. Yahada was just an all around nice guy, even if he did have a slightly annoying quality of repeating everything you said on occasions.

"Oh no. Um, I uh… don't know how long I'll be staying." Katsuya's voice took a dive in pitch and the reply ended up as more of a whisper.

Thankfully, Yahada laughed, "Yes, I'm not quite sure how she managed to rope me into coming either. Perhaps it is simply because she is abnormally enthusiastic about these things?"

Katsuya shrugged. Niita was not a person he wanted to analyze.

Yahada took a contemplative glance at him, and seemed to come to a private conclusion. "I was just handing back some reports to Kaiba-san, who seems to still be in his office. I think someone should go and drag him out for the party. He wouldn't want to miss having some birthday cake."

"They have cake?"

It was Yahada's turn to shrug. "I hear she came close to hiring a clown. I'm pretty sure there's going to be cake."

"Hmmm… well, you're right. Cake _is_ important. I'll go and see how he's doing."

"Okay." Yahada gave him a nod, and then they both walked off in separate directions. Katsuya figured going to harass Kaiba was probably going to be more interesting than trying to strike up a conversation with whoever else was attending the party. He was pretty sure suits like them wouldn't be interested in video games.

It was easy to navigate his way back to Kaiba's office. What he had discovered of the floor so far wasn't big enough to merit getting lost in. He hovered in indecision for a moment in front of the door, unsure of whether to knock or just barge on in like he did at Shichi. At last he decided to open the door, and then knock on it.

Kaiba appeared to be getting ready to leave, although he did, however, pause and look up as Katsuya walked in.

"Oh, it's you." Seto said with slightly more enthusiasm than a person discovering gum under their desk.

"Yes me. Don't forget, you were the one who said I was coming to this thing. So are you ready to emerge and receive a birthday hug from Niita?"

"I'd rather be hugged by Boa Constrictor."

Katsuya rolled his eyes, "Well, y'anno, some of us didn't even have a choice."

Seto was packing away his things, moving around the room to find various papers and folders and, from what Katsuya could see, might have been a hole puncher.

"My pity for you knows no bounds." Seto replied monotonously, no longer bothering to maintain eye contact, since it inhibited him from carrying on with his task.

"Yeah yeah. Anyway, are you coming out for this party or not?"

"No, I'm leaving now."

"Hey! You made _me_ come all the way over here for this stupid thing!"

"Jonouchi, no one _made_ you come here. This was an act of your own free will."

"You agreed to it on the phone when I was telling you not to."

"If you really hadn't wanted to come, you would have called her back and apologized for yourself. You can't let other people make your decisions for you. Are you really that pathetic still?"

Katsuya glared. "No."

"Good then." Seto picked up his briefcase and headed towards the door.

"Wait… hey… that's not the point!" Katsuya protested, following him out. Seto waited for him to leave the office before turning around to shut and lock it. An idea passed through Katsuya's mind, and by the time the CEO had made sure the only way to get in now was via battering ram, the blond had disappeared. He actually wondered where he had gotten to, but dismissed the thoughts as he reminded himself he needed to leave before Niita or any of her comrades could spot him.

Coat swishing in a way that laughed in the face of gravity, Seto strode down past the other empty offices and towards the elevators. He'd almost made it when he heard that dreaded voice halt him. It literally made him wince. If he had been much younger, and not as insanely rich, he might have felt somewhat like a child with their hand in the cookie jar. Caught, just as he was about to escape.

He turned hesitantly to see Niita with her hands on her hips, leaning forwards slightly in a dramatic pouting pose. He noticed a half empty bottle of some generic brand of vodka mix in the hand leaning on her left hip. And there smirking stood Jonouchi, who, it was now apparent, had raced off to find her.

Seto was not a man to back down from his problems. He closed the distance between them and made sure to look as cynically as possible upon what was before him.

"You weren't thinking of leaving, were you Kaiba?" Niita asked in the kind of way that implied she clearly thought he was.

"Actually, I wa…" Jonouchi elbowed him squarely in the ribs. Seto coughed, and then managed to spare him a deathly glare. Katsuya grinned back. Niita didn't say anything, but looked like she approved.

"Nope, he was just coming to see you to wish you Happy Birthday. What kind of a boss would he be if he didn't make an appearance at the party of his favourite personal assistant?" The shorter man told her, enjoying watching Kaiba's shocked reaction.

Accepting this as fact instead of the incredibly obvious lie that it was, Niita broke into an immense smile; "Aww, thank you!" And then, just like Katsuya, she threw her arms around the CEO's neck and hugged him.

Seto looked almost like she _had_ been a Boa Constrictor. He wasted no time in pushing her off of him. Again, she didn't seem deterred by this one bit.

"He also heard there was cake." Katsuya said pointedly.

"Oh yes! The cake! Let's have that now!" She turned immediately and headed back into the room where the rest of the party goers were.

As soon as she could no longer see them Seto made to leave again.

"Oh no." Katsuya grabbed his right arm rather forcefully and steered him in the direction of the party – if he had to be here, so did Kaiba. He was rather surprised, however, that the CEO didn't protest to this all that much. Seto was stuck with concluding that had it been any other person holding on to him, he would have.

Like the hugs, and the miss-matched decorations, and Niita's particularly shrill laugh when drinking, the cake ceremony was painful. She first attempted to rouse people to sing, but soon gave up on the idea after shouts of "Just cut the bloody cake already!" could be heard from multiple individuals in the crowd. Then, as it turned out, there wasn't even enough to go around. Seto received a piece because he was head of the company, they feared a termination sentence if he did not. Katsuya missed out, though he tried to remind himself that he could find something else to eat.

Niita finished handing her boss his piece and apologizing to Jou for not having enough for him too, when Seto announced that his driver was waiting, that he hated to skip out on her party like this, and that he hoped next year she could warn him of the impending date in advance so he could book a flight to England.

Katsuya viewed this as what could be one of the few (certainly the earliest) excuses to leave, and immediately grasped at it.

"I'm sorry, I have to go too."

Niita turned her hazy gaze upon him questioningly, "Why? Where are _you_ going?"

"Home," He admitted, "But …ah… Kaiba offered to give me a lift so..." Seto raised his eyebrow but didn't say anything.

"Oh I see." Niita winked at him. Katsuya rolled his eyes mentally, next time he spoke to her and she wasn't on the way to being drunk, he would really have to set her straight about all of that.

He shook his head anyway, to try and dissuade her from those thoughts. "It's not that…"

"Anyway," Seto interrupted smoothly, "We have to get going."

_Let her think what she wants to, she'll have forgotten he was even here by tomorrow._ The CEO nodded curtly his goodbye, and then wasted no more time in carrying it out. He heard Jonouchi say a farewell before following him.

You didn't notice how quiet it was in the halls until you had entered the room with thumping music and exited it again. Seto pressed the "down" button on the elevator and took a step back, waiting patiently for it to arrive. The blond came to stand beside him.

"Uh, thanks."

The CEO gave him a sidelong glance, "I'm not _actually_ going to give you a lift home."

"Of course not," Katsuya snorted, "I meant for just rolling with it and letting me have my excuse to leave."

There was a "ding", and Seto chose not to reply, they entered the lift together in silence instead. It was a long way to the bottom of the tower. Well, as compared to normal buildings which certainly didn't contain as many floors as Kaiba Corp. did. It was the tallest structure in all of Domino City, after all. He was carrying his briefcase in one hand, and the cake in a handy takeaway box in his other. Seto noticed Jonouchi was eyeing this rather hungrily. Even though he was hardly a master chef himself, Katsuya had a taste for many kinds of foods. Cake was sugary, sometimes creamy, sometimes chocolatey, and usually tasty. This one had looked like it was a mixture of all of these attributes. He was mildly disappointed that he hadn't gotten any.

His face must have reflected his trail of thought, because Kaiba suddenly said; "You can have it if you want. I'll only throw it out anyway."

Katsuya grinned, "You on a diet or something?"

Seto, now looking straight ahead, rolled his eyes; "No, I'm just not hungry. I had a business meeting over lunch. The restaurant served large meals."

"Oh." Katsuya said, taking the cake that was being offered.

"Besides," The CEO said in a slightly lower voice, as if to himself, "I hardly need to go on a diet."

Before he even realized he was doing it, Katsuya was stealing a glance at the other man to confirm this. Kaiba was right; he really didn't need to lose any weight. It was slightly difficult to tell with the jacket, but as Katsuya's eyes trailed from his face, down his chest, to his torso, he realized he definitely agreed with the statement. The brunet might have even been toned, but he couldn't tell with all those _clothes_ in the way.

Suddenly realizing where that thought was headed, and how far down his eyes had actually gone, Katsuya turned away so quickly he could swear his neck cracked. He thought his cheeks might have been scarlet, and thanked the Lord it was night time and the lighting in the elevator was dim.

"Yeah. Um, thanks, for the cake."

Shit, how many more times was he going to stutter out a thank you tonight? He sighed, maybe it wasn't such a bad thing. It's not like Kaiba was flinging it back at him like normal or anything. In fact, as far as Kaiba's went, he was being quite pleasant. Sure, he wasn't eccentrically cheerful like Yugi, or laughed as much as Honda, but he had his own sarcastic quality that Katsuya found he was beginning to like.

_Damn, another case of bizarre._

The lift clunked to a stop, and the doors opened with another "ding". Seto didn't reply again, and they stepped out in silence. He nodded at the man behind the security desk who waved and said "Have a good night Kaiba-sama."

Motion-sensored sliding doors opened at the entrance to the building, and Seto frowned when he couldn't see his car already there. He voiced as much, and then muttered something about calling his driver. He flipped out his cell phone and dialed.

Katsuya thought that it had gotten colder since he had last been out here. He pulled his jacket more tightly around him and automatically tuned out Kaiba's conversation with his chauffer. He wasn't sure whether he should just leave, or do the polite thing and wait around until the car came, so Kaiba wouldn't have to stand there by himself.

They stood under what technically passed as a verandah. Although the term itself brought images of a house to mind. So when tiny pieces of white started to fall, Katsuya couldn't feel them.

_Ah, so that's why it's suddenly colder._ Like some other people who had grown up in a country where it snowed every winter, Jou couldn't always see the fascination cold-deprived continents had with it. It was freezing, wet, caused traffic jams and major accidents, got in your eyes and hair and the temperatures needed to maintain it forced you to wear six layers of clothing to bed. Snow did have its uses; ice-skating was fun for those who could do it without falling on their asses every three metres, skiing was also fun for those who could do it without befalling the same consequences. Then there were snowball fights, as long as someone hadn't included a surprise rock in their missiles, and, when he had been younger, school closure days when the weather got too extreme. For him, any excuse not to go to school was a good one.

Katsuya also had to admit that the first snow of the season was the most tolerable and the best. Right now, it was just snowing. You could appreciate the fact because you weren't trenching through ankle-deep shoe-destroying wet white … water particles. It actually looked nice against the city backdrop, and the dark sky emphasized the contrasting colour.

He stepped out from under the overhanging roof into the falling weather. He looked up and it caught in his eye lashes and decorated his hair, but he wasn't bothered. It was kind of sappy but he felt he didn't mind walking home in this. May as well get a head start.

"What are you doing?" Kaiba asked, and Katsuya heard him click his phone shut, and then a rustle of his jacket pocket as he put it away.

"Training to be an Olympic sprinter, what does it look like?"

"Just because it starts to snow doesn't mean you have to stand in it." Seto said, slightly huffily. His driver had apologized and insisted he was on his way and would be there soon. He detested having to wait in the cold.

Jonouchi turned to him and smiled, "Actually I think the first snow is the perfect excuse to do so. In fact, it's more like a mandatory requirement."

Seto stared. Jou had never really _smiled_ at him before. In recent times he'd gone so far as to laugh, and even smirk in amusement, but a genuine smile was new as far as the brunet was aware. Smiling suited the boy, he decided, it was a lot more attractive than the scowl he normal directed at the CEO. Snow had settled on the blond's nose, and with amusement Seto thought it looked like he'd been eating the cake a little too enthusiastically. It made him look innocent, and cute. The honest smile only made matters worse in this respect. He looked like a picture book, and Seto didn't want to shut it.

His cheeks tinted as he realized something; Jou _was_ attractive, it had just taken a genuine smile for him to finally recognize it.

All of this passed through his mind in only a few seconds however, because as soon as Jonouchi was finished talking he reached forwards once again and pulled on Kaiba's arm to bring him out into the snow. In doing so he forgot to step back at the same time, and so they accidentally crashed together. Katsuya released his arm and laughed, giving another apology and taking a small step backwards.

Seto didn't realize he was staring. _He hasn't stopped smiling. _

Katsuya tilted his head to the side, "Ha! And now you have snow in your hair."

The noise seemed to bring Seto slightly back to reality, he gave a small frown; "So it would seem. I hope you're happy." He reached up to brush some out but couldn't seem to tear his eyes too far away from Jonouchi's face.

"Very." Then he leaned in again slightly, this time looking at Seto with a critical eye; "You know, you look kinda pale…"

"It's… cold?"

Katsuya mocked a kind of thinking face, "Maybe that bump on your head did more damage than you first thought; only it took awhile for it to show?"

"My head is just fine."

"I dunno, maybe you have some kind of feverish brain disease?" Katsuya raised his hand presumably to press it to Kaiba's forehead, probably mocking the kind of way a mother checks her children. Truth be told this wasn't exactly an accurate method of judgment. It didn't quite make it, however, Seto found his own hand had come up and stopped it in its movement. He wasn't going to dwell on why.

Katsuya blinked, and turned his gaze to where his wrist was caught; "Wha…Why…?"

"Because…" Seto said, face inches away from Jou's. He knew he was going to regret this in five minutes time, everything told him he was. But he closed the distance and did it anyway, because…

_Because you looked cute smiling. This, is entirely your fault. _The reasoning was pathetic, he knew, but it would have to suffice.

Katsuya froze, his eyes wide with shock. Holy crap, Kaiba was kissing him. A boy was kissing him and it was Kaiba and that was _wrong. _It didn't matter that it felt nice, or that it was chaste and unobtrusive, a boy was kissing him and it was _Kaiba_. Indecision tore him in half and so he didn't try to return it, but didn't push him away either.

After what was probably very little time at all, Seto pulled back. He let Jou's hand slip out of his grip and his own fall back down to his side.

The shorter boy looked slightly dazed, and the thought came unbidden to Seto's mind that at that moment, this actually made him look _more_ attractive.

_Oh dear._

Jonouchi was recovering quickly now. His expression changed back to shock, and he took a decisive step backwards. "…th' hell?"

Seto tried to think fast; what was he meant to say? Sorry? Apologize for kissing him? (…_Was_ he even sorry!?) Maybe he should try to convince him the last few minutes were a figment of his imagination? Or maybe he should point behind him and shout "Look over there!" then whilst he was distracted run in the opposite direction?

…That actually didn't sound so bad.

"Um…" He tried, lost.

Jonouchi wasted no time in interrupting whatever it was he might have come up with, "I need to get home." He didn't wait for a reply, he turned and left, almost running to make it down the street.

It hadn't even been five minutes and Seto regretted it. Although, he was wise enough to realize that the regret stemmed more from the rejection than anything else involved. Because now that he stopped and thought about it, there _were_ other things involved. Jou was a) a person of the same sex, b) a person he had hated for so many years, but most importantly c) his employee. It broke so many rules of conduct it wasn't funny. Technically, Seto thought despairingly, Jonouchi could file for workplace sexual harassment… or something more legal sounding but that essentially meant the same thing, and he might even win. Although against the CEO's lawyers the likelihood dropped by about ninety seven percent.

He sighed. Yep, a very, very, stupid thing to do.

He was going to wonder whether the boy would even come to work ever again, when a car horn beeped. Shocked, he realized he'd been so entirely lost in thought he hadn't even heard his car drive up. Lights glared at him to his right, and after a moment he went over to them.

Seto slid wordlessly into the back seat, though the driver didn't need any to pull away from the curb and out into the traffic. He probably assumed the CEO was still annoyed for his tardiness, but it didn't bother the boy either way. He looked down at the briefcase he was still holding in one hand, to his other one, which was empty, but had held other things that night.

He thought; _Tomorrow, I might buy a cake._

* * *

A/N: I don't care how cliché the snow was, I love cute moments. You should know this by now.

…

-flees-


	10. Solution

Ch 10 (Solution)

Disclaimer: Characters, worlds, people, games, and everything else is owned by and copyrighted Kazuki Takahashi. This is a non-for-profit fan work with no particular personal gain in mind. I own the writing and nothing else.

* * *

What was _with_ sunlight, anyway? You were trying to sleep and it shone in your face like a giant ray of disturbance. Roosters might have appreciated the wake up call, but humans were not like roosters. Largely because they were taller, not covered in feathers, prone to contemplation of matters more serious than where the food was, and a large percentage of them did not get up at the crack of dawn. Certain humans, particularly those of the class 'student', liked to continue to remain in a state of dormant slumber until well _after_ the crack of dawn. Some continued in this fashion right through until the afternoon and sometimes even the evening. However this state of blissful unawareness could be hindered by the harsh intrusion of sunlight. Particularly if one had forgotten to close ones curtains upon going to bed the night before. There were few methods the lethargic individual could adopt to combat the invasion of space. The most commonly used was to simply, as now awake, close the curtains of the window currently streaming the sunlight, and then fall back onto ones bed and resume the sleep process. The second, although less commonly adopted but a favourite of chemistry students, was to work on creating a giant laser that could ultimately be used to destroy the very sun itself, resulting in a massive temperature drop causing humans to live in environmentally-modified enclosed land spaces, burning through fuel to regulate heating and cooling at a rate never before seen by man, after many years of which the Earth's natural resources will have been spent, leaving us to simply freeze to death or go insane from the ever-present darkness that will shroud the planet in the sun's absence, climactically seeing a sorry end to the human race, erased from existence completely, with no one left to remember them.

So it was probably a good thing that most people just bothered to get up and close their curtains.

It actually hadn't crossed Katsuya's mind to do either of these things. That morning, after the sun woke him up in a most unpleasant manor, he had first tried to make it go away by throwing a pillow at his window, and after finding that this had very little effect, simply pulled his covers up over his face, essentially stopping the light from keeping him up. This was actually working remarkably well until another legendary interrupter of sleep came to harass him.

The phone rang.

This was fine, he could handle one phone call. The key was patience; you simply had to wait for the caller to stop and realize you 'weren't home'. They stopped. Katsuya went back to sleep.

Then they called again. And again. And then a little while later, again. He couldn't quite tell how regularly the caller was ringing; he kept falling asleep again every time they stopped. After what felt like the fiftieth time being awoken that morning, he had finally had enough, and got up to grab the phone and put it next to his bed so the next time it rang he could tell the person to sod off and stop calling.

Then he went back to sleep.

The phone rang, it was an annoying tone that Honda had changed it to at some point the last time he was here, and Katsuya didn't know how to change it back. He awoke again, waited for a few rings wondering why it sounded so loud when it was in the other room, then realized he'd moved it and extricated an arm slowly from under the covers to reach out and grab it, pressing the talk button then moving it to his ear.

"Hello?" He said blearily, not even sure if it sounded right.

"Not that I care, but where the hell are you?" A woman's voice… he thought… came through the phone sounding mightily pissed off. Although, he thought dimly, it was the kind of pissed off that sounded more like it stemmed from the actual task of calling him than from the reason for the conversation. Which narrowed down the possibilities of the ID of the caller, and he took a guess at who he supposed it might have been.

"Sasaki? Wha… I'm at home, obviously." He tried to understand the question. _Obviously_ he was at home; she had called his home number. He was still yet to get a mobile, that was somewhere in the middle of his to-do list. Things like 'eating', 'rent' and 'arcade games' came above it.

"Yes, but you're not supposed to be. Can we guess why?" Now that she had his ear, she was beginning to enjoy sending him his wake-up call.

To say that 'it hit him like a tonne of bricks' wasn't exactly accurate. Katsuya took a little while to wake up in the morning so even this sudden realization wasn't enough to really shake him. It, therefore, was probably more comparable to being hit by a tonne of softened pillows; it nudged him back to reality, but only slightly.

_Oh shit, it's Saturday. I'm meant to be at work._

"I… um…" Giving his best attempt at thinking fast with a sleep-induced brain blockage, Jou considered his options: there was

1) Apologize and rush to work. He looked at the digital clock by his bed, gasped, and decided this probably wasn't going to help very much.

2) Pretend he was an answering machine. Although, that might backfire since he'd already addressed her specifically.

3) Pretend he was his twin brother… uh… Yugi… and apologize for Katsuya's outrageous behavior. Actually, that sounded less believable than number two, and also, if Kaiba was told about it, he knew he didn't have a twin brother, and he knew who Yugi was.

Which left

4) Lie.

"…I just got back from the doctor's, was just about to call you."

"You certainly _sound_ like you're on drugs." Sasaki muttered, referring to how out of it he came across. That was a sleep-thing, and for once he was glad of it.

"Yeah, they gave me some painkillers. Got this really bad…stomach…thing…"

"Right." She said cynically. Clearly, she did not believe him. He was pretty sure he wouldn't have believed him either.

He coughed for good measure.

She probably rolled her eyes.

"I'll let Kaiba-san know, and you'd better be well again by Tuesday." He had wanted to interrupt her and shout "No don't tell him!!" but that would have raised some questions and she would have been obliged to let him know anyway. Plus, judging from what time it was, and the level to which the sun had risen, Kaiba was probably well aware that he wasn't at work. And upon hearing that Katsuya was sick with "some stomach thing" would probably further speculate the illegitimacy of this, and draw his own conclusions based on what went on last night.

Which wouldn't exactly be far from the truth.

"Uh…Yeah, lots of rest and stuff… I should be." Sasaki then sniffed a goodbye and hung up; Katsuya did the same on his end. He let the phone drop out of his hand and fall the short distance to the floor, then lent his head back and raised his eyes to the ceiling.

_Fuck._

This was not a good way to start the day. Nor was it a good response to what happened yesterday. He hadn't exactly been sure what he would have done at work that day, but not going at all seemed like the biggest cop out imaginable. He had little doubt that Kaiba would view it as a pathetic attempt to escape a confrontation. What he wanted to desperately explain was that it hadn't been his fault for doing that, he had just accidentally over slept due to his over-taxed brain, which felt worn out from thinking so much. Although, since there was nothing he could do about it now, he should probably try to think of the situation in a different light. Pathetic or not, this _was_ a handy excuse for not seeing the CEO that day. And he supposed he should welcome any excuse he got. Katsuya had no idea what it was going to be like next time they met, but what annoyed him the most was that now he was actually worrying about it. Never before, not even when they had been at each others throats had he ever been nervous or hesitant about bumping into Kaiba. He had always been more than ready to throw a punch if it came to that, and lately, since they had begun to be on better terms, he had found he had become almost entirely comfortable in the others presence.

And then Kaiba had to go and do… that… and now he wasn't. Now he was worried this _meant_ something and that he would have to reach some sort of conclusion and actually act on it. Honestly, how could anyone possibly expect anyone to do such a thing? Working out their feelings and all… it was just crazy! Although he supposed if someone pressed the point he would have been willing to put forward that kissing men was not on his agenda and he didn't like Kaiba one bit.

Unfortunately, given the opportunity to dwell on it a little more, he started to doubt that conclusion. There was a tiny part of him, _tiny_ part of him, that thought that maybe kissing boys wasn't so bad, and that actually, Kaiba wasn't so bad himself…

_Damn contemplation!_

But then there was also the case of what the hell it was that Kaiba himself was thinking right now. Or at the time for that matter. To Katsuya, it felt like the gesture was completely out of the blue. Sure, they had been getting along better recently but did that automatically follow onto relationship type stuff?! …He didn't think so.

So why then? Why had Kaiba suddenly flipped like that?

Wait… was it called flipping? He thought that referred more to if Kaiba had suddenly stabbed him rather than kissed him, but he supposed they actually might have been equally as unexpected outcomes for the evening. Katsuya certainly hadn't seen it coming. He didn't think he'd done anything especially inviting to make Kaiba do that, aside from kinda checking him out in the elevator, but he was pretty sure the CEO had missed him doing that. (Probably a good thing, now). As far as he was aware he hadn't been _flirting_ or anything.

Just how did you come on to a guy anyway? Chicks tended to shove their breasts in a mans face, so were you meant to shove your _ass_ in a mans face likewise?

Oh. Ew. Ow. Bad images.

Katsuya pressed a palm to his forehead, willing his brain to simply shut down and stop thinking.

He now had a headache too.

Right. First things first, get painkillers. Then, he would have to work out what to do today, and how much less food he would have to buy next week to compensate for the money he wouldn't be getting for not going into work this fine Saturday.

…

Independent living was overrated.

* * *

The small amount of snow that had appeared on Friday had melted to puddles and more was yet to join it. Instead it had begun to rain again, bucketing at night time and drizzling during the day. Most people stayed indoors that Sunday, the city outside was muddy and wet, and no one wanted to challenge it. Trips to pick up extra groceries were canceled, heaters were pulled out again and set up in living rooms, children watched an excess of television, and people spent the day with their families, unwilling to venture out into the weather.

Seto was more than happy to stay home too. Even if his house was big enough to encompass four tennis courts, it was still his home. And that was where many people were most comfortable. He had a few office type rooms in his mansion, but this one was by far his favourite. It was lined with bookcases, filled with books that _he_ had picked. Many of the books in the house had belonged to his step-father, and were mostly educational non-fiction thick editions with print tiny enough to warrant a magnifying glass. Needless to say the CEO had been forced to read a great number of them during the years his adopted parent had been alive. But the ones in this study, they weren't like that. There was a lot of non-fiction, but they were topics the Kaiba brothers enjoyed reading. There were many novels too; classics, thrillers, science fiction, books in other languages with a great number by English authors. There were comics, art books, visual diaries and even game guides. On one wall there was a large television, and surrounding it were a least a few hundred DVDs. Underneath were Mokuba's favourite games, and the consoles needed to operate them. This room, although they referred to it as 'Seto's Study', was just as much his younger brothers'. That was another reason he liked this room so much. It might have been the smallest study, but it was cozy. The books that towered above the occupants were welcoming rather than imposing. The chairs and couches were all comfortable, and the desk was untidy. It didn't have the same clinical feel that came with some of the other rooms of the house. He defiantly knew why this was his favourite.

This afternoon both brothers were in there. Mokuba was stretched out along the couch, reading a manga he had picked up the other day. Seto was seated at his desk, his computer open but not in front of him, instead his hands occupied with reports and documents related to Yahada's transfer. His eyes weren't on them however; they had trailed blankly over to where the light crept into the room. Through his window the world looked like a dulled watercolor, splashed with too much grey. The world appeared as foggy as he felt his mind was, and he wanted to invest in windscreen wipers.

He wasn't upset. And he wasn't going to mourn over it or spontaneously burst into tears. Rather, what he had done had simply made matters a lot worse than they really needed to be right now. It was important to see that his replacement at Shichi Corporation got settled in properly, and that he returned to his job with the problem finally fixed and out of the way. It was important to get on with life as he had been looking forward to doing for months, not to hurl more complications at it than he already had.

Jonouchi was a complication. Seto was pretty sure the incident was a one-time thing. And if it wasn't, that next time Jou stood under some snow and he happened to be around at the time, he was positive he would be able to control himself. He'd just gotten a little too caught up in the moment. Yes, this was his own fault but he accepted this, and was now moving on. It was interesting that the boy hadn't shown up at work yesterday, and he certainly didn't buy the illness story for a second. He assumed instead that his assistants absence was related to what had happened on Friday night, and although Seto wasn't exactly in a position to blame him, (part of him was reeling from the fact that he had kissed another person of the same gender), it was nonetheless bad form not to come to work because of personal issues. Be they with your own boss or not.

He was still a little worried that the whole 'workplace relationship' thing would come back to haunt him. If Jonouchi decided he'd been taken advantage of and felt the need to tell someone about it, he would be in very deep shit. He was just going to have to work out something extremely eloquent to say to him next time they met, that hopefully would help the whole thing to simply blow over. Because that's what needed to happen, really. That's what was best. He wouldn't deny to himself that he was beginning to like Jou more than he ever had before, but he also wouldn't deny that that wasn't right. He couldn't, and shouldn't do it.

"Nii-sama? You seem quiet today…" This wasn't a statement that just anybody could make. Seto wasn't exactly a talkative person even during the best of times, so to say that he was today speaking even less was an assumption to be made only by those who knew him best.

He turned slowly, gaze re-focusing and his mind drawn back from the depths of thought with a hard tug. His eyes finally settled on his younger brother, comic discarded, obviously finished, atop his feet. "Mmm," was all he could think to reply with.

"So, what's up?" Mokuba pressed, mouth dangerously close to a frown.

"Just…" Seto searched for a reason for his silent contemplation other than what he was mainly concerned with, "…work." He concluded, noticing the papers he was still holding.

"Oh." The younger Kaiba said, glancing at what his brother was reading, but realizing he was a bit too far away to make it out. "What's the problem? I thought you were just about to let Yahada take over, shouldn't you be relaxed?"

"I'm not worried about that." Seto shook his head slightly, "I was thinking about what to do with Niita." That wasn't exactly a complete lie; he _had_ been wondering lately what the heck to do with her.

Mokuba made a thoughtful noise; he had met the PA very briefly on maybe two occasions, so he didn't really know her. But he had heard stories. Almost every one of them had been retold by an irritated Seto so the kinds of tales they were, were quite obvious. He wasn't exactly sure if he believed she was as useless as his brother made her out to be, but she certainly didn't seem to be winning any favors with the head of the company in any case.

"Are you going to fire her then?" he asked.

Seto gave a noncommittal shrug, "She needs to go. It was just unfortunate that she had to be the one hired whilst I was in the middle of a company crisis that demanded more attention than the issue of the capability of my personal assistant; but now that that's almost over, I can't keep working with someone as irritatingly inconsistent as she is."

Mokuba nodded, it made sense to him, and he had never before objected to his brother's business decisions. Seto had always been a lot better with that sort of thing than he was. "But if you fire her, who are you going to hire instead?"

"I'll have more time to set up interviews after I stop having to travel to Shichi every other day." He hadn't planned anything specifically; to be honest the most serious speculating he'd done regarding Niita's future had taken place in the last five minutes.

"What about Jou?"

"What _about _Jou?" Seto countered defensively. Mokuba lowered his head a little and next spoke slightly timidly.

"Well, isn't he a good assistant?"

The brunet stared. Unfortunately, that was true. One of the reasons he liked Jonouchi more in the first place was that for once in his life he had proved to be good at something. He learnt quickly, followed instructions efficiently, didn't complain or argue any more than their normal banter, and was certainly more reliable than Niita. True enough, they didn't exactly have the same job. Her duties were different to his, so even if he did take over from her he would still have a lot to learn. Seto knew, however, that the blond would do this, and learn it well. He had already shown that he could.

If only Friday night hadn't happened then such a decision wouldn't seem like Seto had seriously suggestive ulterior motives in mind. Just what would Jou think if he suggested he switch jobs and go back with him to his other office? And since _when _did he care what other people thought he was thinking about things? And since _**when**_ had he begun to think of him as 'Jou' half the time? He wasn't about to actually call him that, he didn't think anyway, but wasn't thinking it just as bad? They weren't that familiar!

This was all getting a bit too crazy.

Then, there was another matter involved as well; "Yes, but he can't work full time. Niita could."

Mokuba nodded and looked thoughtful again for a moment. Then he leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and used his hands to gesture and emphasize his hypothesis. "Okay well, what about this, and hear me out. You say Niita doesn't do a very good job, right? You say she doesn't do her work quick enough and wastes time, right? So, for arguments sake, say she only uses about half her time on the job productively. That means that for half the time she's spending there, she's not doing anything. Jou is a good worker, you say. Or, hey no, don't give me that face, I _know_ you think it. You don't _need_ to say it. Anyway, so Jou is a good worker yes? He doesn't waste time. So if you compared them, in the time it took Niita to do X amount of work, Jou would have already done twice X amount of work. _And, _you are surviving these last busy months with a PA that only works for half the hours she's paid for, so it's maybe safe to conclude, for the purposes of the argument, that you don't actually _need_ someone there to assistant for half of the working hours. Especially now that after Yahada starts you will be a lot less busy anyway. Therefore Jou who, in this theory, works twice as fast as Niita, could do the job, in which you only need half the hours to be worked. Thus, equaling out what is already taking place and utilizing only the time that is actually needed, and the worker that is available. Do you see?"

Kaiba's had a weird way of making sense.

"Yes. You think I only _need_ someone to work part time, so Jonouchi would be perfect."

Mokuba nodded and smiled, "Yep, exactly." He looked at Seto with the attention of a defendant watching a jury waiting for a verdict.

"It's an interesting theory. I can't exactly disagree with your logic, but I think it will still take some time to iron out all the other problems involved." He received an inquisitive look but refused to elaborate on what these might be.

"For now, thank you for supplying me with your thoughts."

"Anytime, Nii-sama."

Seto nodded, letting at least traces of the appreciation show on his face. "I suppose we shall just have to wait and see what the week brings."

* * *

Katsuya was determined to actually make it to work on Tuesday, so much so that he arrived extremely early to his shift. A first on many accounts. Sasaki was reluctantly impressed, and did her best not to show it. He was also determined to spend as little time as possible in Kaiba's presence. He was being so cautious about seeing him again that he actually paused outside the CEO's office door and stood silently still, listening for signs of life inside. Once he couldn't hear anything, he took the plunge and opened the door, slightly hesitantly, and peered inside. Kaiba hadn't been there, and so Katsuya rushed inside, grabbed the entire contents of his out-box, and raced out of the room.

The rest of the mid afternoon was spent keeping out of Kaiba's way. When the brunet entered a room he found an exit. He was so used to the job now that he knew many of the routine tasks he had to do, and so, with the help of the early start, made sure he did them before the CEO had a chance to remind him to get them done. This effectively cut off much unnecessary conversation (he considered) and allowed for further avoiding of the issue.

The fact that he hadn't gone to work on Saturday, and was worried about what Kaiba would say when they next met, was behind why he felt he needed to do all or any of this. He also wasn't quite ready to face what had happened on Friday night. He'd thought more about that too, but was still as confused and unsure as he had been in the immediate reflection. So he felt that simply avoiding the matter, or in this case the act of having a conversation with his boss, would work as a kind of band aid solution until he could work out what he was going to say when or if the event occurred.

Seto didn't share this opinion.

He was more than slightly irritated that Jonouchi had decided high tail it out of the room as soon as he saw him. Was that what this had come down to? They were meant to simply ignore each other and hope that everything just went away? Well, that really wasn't good enough. The CEO needed some sort of verbal closure on this or he was going to have a really hard time deciding whether or not he wanted to transfer Jou's position. Having Niita as a PA was bad enough, but having a mute blond answering his phone was going to be taking a gigantic leap backwards. Likely off a cliff and into an ocean made of sulfuric acid.

So he was going to have to somehow initiate a conversation. He was in the middle of pondering how he might go about this, whilst looking through one of the bookshelves for old records, when the boy walked in to drop some files on his desk. Upon seeing him the blond quickly looked the other way then made to leave again.

"Stop." For lack of better planning Seto found himself saying the first thing that popped into his brain, and was half-surprised to find that Jonouchi actually did. The boy turned, wearing a guarded expression.

"What?" He said shortly.

"Stop acting like an immature school girl." Seto elaborated. Well, at least it worked at getting a reaction from the blond.

"_Immature school girl!?"_ Katsuya looked shocked, then quickly turned to anger. "I am _not_ immature."

"Oh really? Then why are you jumping every time you see me and pretending I don't exist? Wouldn't you say that was rather a childish way of handling the situation?"

"No. Wait... I mean, I'm not doing that!" Jou looked slightly frustrated with himself.

Seto smirked. He was winning again, and apparently easily.

"I see. You certainly _sound_ thoroughly convincing."

Katsuya glared, and muttered something that to Seto sounded a bit like 'fuck you', but he chose to ignore it. Clearly this wasn't going anywhere. He realized that Jou was still ignoring him; apparently simply dishing insults wasn't going to work this time. The blond head was turned to the side avoiding looking at him and he kept shuffling, obviously eager to race out the door and away from the CEO. He was going to have to try a different approach.

"Hey, if you can't even look me in the eye, how do you expect us to keep working together!?"

Jonouchi turned, slowly and reluctantly, and faced him. He didn't look angry and wasn't glaring. He didn't seem as explosively defiant as he did when facing an opponent in a duel, but he had accepted Seto's challenge, that much was clear.

It was the first step to moving forward, to putting things back on track. Apparently, however, it didn't need to be snowing for him to feel like kissing Jou again. Just seeing him looking back with such an honest expression made him want to fall apart.

_Damnit. _

So Seto looked away.

The CEO cleared his throat and took a few steps towards his desk, speaking as he walked. "Just forget about the whole incident." He said it in a rather detached and airy kind of way, like he was instructing Jonouchi to forget about a broken toy or a lost blanket. He also didn't need to specify just what exactly it was the conversation had now switched to.

When Kaiba turned around Katsuya folded him arms, "Gladly. But I find it interesting that you assume I haven't already moved past it."

Seto almost glared, but that would have implied that he cared; "You have been ignoring me all day."

"That's because I don't like you."

"Well, _that's _well established."

Katsuya narrowed his eyes.

"Still not speaking? You see, _this_ is what's childish."

"What the hell do you want me to say!?" Katsuya erupted suddenly, louder than he might have wanted to be.

Seto wasn't sure how to answer, he knew what he wanted to say but knew he couldn't say it. However Jou didn't give him much time to come up with anything, "That I'm angry with you? Demand an apology? Ha… You wouldn't give one anyway and I don't really want one. In my life, you don't walk around regretting things that have happened, you can't, it's not functional. If they're not good things, you just have to accept them, and then go right past them."

Seto was a little confused as to why the blond had suddenly taken it upon himself to impart a personal wisdom, but it seemed like it was something Jou felt he had to do. He might have wondered whether the boy was subtly trying to hint that he didn't exactly regret what had happened and that now there was only the future to look towards and events would develop of their own accord, however since the CEO was both himself trying to find a way to move past what was going on between them, he wasn't paying attention to subtleties.

He paused before replying, "It's not going to happen again."

Katsuya wanted to shrug, but he didn't; "Good."

"Just…" _Just go back to being normal. Whatever, however, you describe normal. Even if it isn't the normal that it had become, even if it's the old normal, the one where we hate each other and you're a pathetic mutt. Yeah, just go back to being that. That should fix things._

"Just what?"

"…do your job."

"Yeah… right." Katsuya had had enough. He left, wondering what the heck that whole conversation had been about. At the same time though, he felt a kind of tension lift. It was almost like they'd had it out. Now they really could move on. Well, maybe. The conversation hadn't exactly been what one could describe as 'conclusive'. But he did feel as though he could lighten up a little bit now. He hoped Kaiba felt the same way.

Uh... wait. No, he didn't hope that. That would have been verging on, if not falling into, sympathy. He was confused enough as it was concerning just how much he liked the brunet, and starting to actually _care _about the feelings of the other was certainly not going to tip the situation in a way that was good for his general well being and mental health. But he thought that if things went back to normal that would be good too. He found he didn't like ignoring Kaiba, walking on tiptoe past his office was not something he thought he could bother with forever. And the guy did seem okay again. Katsuya hadn't gotten the impression that he was about to be pinned to a wall and ravished, so he supposed that was also a blessing. Hey, maybe things _could _go back to the way they had been without incident.

That would… probably… be best.

* * *

It felt like every other week things had to work at 'going back to normal'. Tips in the balance of traditional relationships between affluent brunet's and penniless blond's had reached an all time high. It was getting harder and harder to right them again. It was like when one played an RPG and is confronted with a typical "scale" problem in a random generic dungeon. You have to work out how many of some object is needed be placed on one side of the scale to bring the players character up high enough to reach the next platform. Of course, even if you _can_ work this out, there is still the issue of jumping from the scale to the platform and if you miss you fall back down to the bottom and have to start all over again.

This was a perfectly fine analogy to use in this situation. Whenever their relationship became balanced, or steady enough, or in a place where it felt comfortable, something jumped, missed, and landed two floors down on its arse. Then it became the task of the relationship to walk back up the floors, destroying the monsters that had re-spawned, re-lighting the spheres to open the door to jump over the quick sand to fight the mini-boss to get the item to make it past the locked door to get back and re-solve the scale puzzle to finally get them level enough to be in the right place. The place you'd been in before. Already.

It had happened after they'd spent nearly the whole night in the closet and it was happening again now. Luckily, they'd already made the trek once and so knew the path. Reconciling was easier this time, although Seto had to stop and wonder about this, seeing as the incident that had started it was in some ways a lot more confronting than the last one had been. Maybe Jonouchi had simply decided that he'd been off his nut and it wasn't going to happen again, like he had said it wouldn't.

And he _was_ doing his best to make sure that it didn't, but the problem with suddenly realizing that you maybe kinda like someone is that you then spent every moment with them trying to work out the extent of these new found feelings, and whether they actually hold any substance at all. Looking at Jou made him wonder whether he _liked_ looking at Jou; and so on. He couldn't _not _think about his assistant in a way that had nothing to do with how fast he processed invoices, and this was simply the result of what had happened a week earlier.

Now that the boy was speaking to him again, even getting close to the friendly kind of way it had been, he had to work a lot harder at ignoring all of those other feelings and getting on with running his company. He actually wasn't doing a bad job of it too; Seto had always been quite good at showing people a face that his audience wanted to see. He knew how to ignore distractions, and to focus on the task at hand. This was absolutely not different. So despite the fact that working with Jonouchi forced him to think once again about how he might have been feeling, on no accounts did he let Jou know that. Or anyone else for that matter.

But regardless of all this, Seto was in high spirits. Well, as high as they got for someone who had never so much as shouted a "woohoo" in his life. He felt he'd done enough teaching and that Yahada was finally equipped enough to order his own name plate and have someone nail it to Nobita's old door. They'd discussed it, and decided that it wasn't essential to wait, and so he could start on Monday. That meant he only had one more day to spend at Shichi Corporation and then, finally, he could move back here permanently, hopefully seeing the back side of the other office for the last time.

This decision led him right back to the other decision he'd sworn he would make regarding Niita's termination. It had been a busy week with all the preparation and set-up he'd had to finalize to do with the change over, involving many quick decisions and many opportunities to once again prove why _he _was head of the billion dollar company and not some old man in an ugly grey suit. Getting Niita out of the way felt like something that simply _should _be tied up along with everything else.

He was still contemplating when and what to tell her, and also still considering Mokuba's suggestion about Jonouchi, that afternoon. Yahada was in his office, as he had been quite frequently that week, and they were taking a kind of break from the discussion to have a drink. Niita herself had managed, he imagined, to literally sniff out the tea from wherever she had been off to, and had scurried back to interrupt shortly after it had been poured. It was some sort of extremely expensive something from Kyoto; Seto never really did pay attention to those kinds of things. He had people that bought him formalities for a reason. He could recognize, of course, whether a wine had cost one thousand yen or ten thousand yen, but he wouldn't exactly call himself a connoisseur. It had a lot to do with not caring about what they drank or ate, as long as he managed to close the deal.

Niita had taken a seat next to Yahada, and was offering him a refill before he'd hardly touched what was already in his cup. She had been fawning over him all week, but Seto had decided not to care enough to be annoyed by it. It was obvious to even the cleaning staff, who didn't actually work normal office hours, that Seto's PA preferred dealing with Yahada a whole lot more than she did her current boss. They argued, he was constantly annoyed with her, and she frequently ignored his tempers and any suggestions that she considered to be wrong.

He had no idea how Yahada put up with her. Or even how her own mother did. But throughout the whole week the new CEO had only smiled politely and thanked her for going out of her way to do things for him. Which she certainly had been. When Seto had asked her to photocopy a report, she had gone down the road to buy Yahada a coffee. When he had reminded her that he needed that draft by 10, she had flown downstairs to collect and then deliver Yahada's mail.

And so on and so forth.

"Don't you have somewhere else you could procrastinate?" Seto asked without much enthusiasm, placing his cup on the small table between the lounges. He'd found that, after making the decision to get rid of her, he was no longer as irritated by her constant presence. She'd made an egg explode in the microwave on Wednesday and he hadn't batted an eyelid. Naturally, he was yet to tell her of this decision, but the knowledge that it _would_ happen sustained him.

"Don't worry, I've got it covered, your calls are going to voicemail." She replied dismissively.

"Of course." Seto said with just the amount of sarcasm needed to show that he hadn't really expected a different answer.

"So this is your last day?" Niita continued despairingly, returning her attention to Yahada. She pouted like a child being denied a sweet.

"Well, no. I'm still working for Kaiba Corporation." Yahada explained although of course that was quite obvious.

She tugged on his shirt sleeve, "But you won't be working _here_, will you?" Niita had been one of the last employees to get wind of the official date of the transfer. Whether this was because of her inability to notice even a post-it on the end of her nose, or that the rest of the staff felt it was better to be saved her loud and verbal dismay over the matter for as long as possible remained to be seen.

"No…" The taller man conceded, his tone indicating a slight wariness of what the answer could lead to.

She crossed her arms and gave a little 'humph' of annoyance, but smiled at him nonetheless. "Well, I hope it all goes well for you."

Obviously relieved that she hadn't stoned him to death immediately, Yahada smiled back; "Thank you. I have confidence in myself and Kaiba-san's decisions; I think the move will be fine."

She gave Seto a quick sidelong look that seemed to imply she didn't exactly have as much faith as he did in what the CEO could accomplish, and that trusting in his decisions wasn't top of the list of her priorities. The look she turned back to Yahada with was strikingly dissimilar. "Well, I have confidence in you too. I'm sure you'll do fine."

Now happily sipping tea, the both of them began to chat a little more generally about the changes that would take place beginning next week. Seto wasn't interested in taking part in the conversation at all, so chose to remain quiet and thoughtful instead.

The solution to his problem was more obvious than a clown on a stealth mission. Niita could clearly be useful as long as she wanted to be, she and Kaiba just had conflicting personalities. She liked Yahada, so worked better when she was around him, and he seemed to… well… if it wasn't 'like' then it was tolerance in any case. He knew however, that Jonouchi got along with Yahada too (not that this was surprising – the man was extremely agreeable), so if he didn't change anything things would still work out fine over at Shichi. But Seto _needed _to get rid of Niita. This was not negotiable.

…

Honestly his current plan was downright generous.

Tuning back in when Yahada suddenly stood up, he heard him say; "I need to finish packing the rest of the things in my office, so if you'll excuse me?"

Seto waved a hand indicating that he was free to do so and Niita said a smiling and yet somehow melancholy goodbye. No sooner had he closed the door than she made to leave as well, however for once the CEO actually halted her in the process.

"Wait," She turned, expression curious, and stopped.

"Yes?" It was not that she never accepted the tasks that he asked of her, it was just that she didn't always choose to do them, or with much haste.

"Niita, how would you like to work with Yahada on a more permanent basis?"

* * *

Shichi Corporation's new CEO had actually looked happy when Seto mentioned that he could take Niita with him. For the life of him Kaiba couldn't work out why, but didn't spend too much time dwelling on it. Mokuba had also been happy that his idea had been taken on board by his older brother. Jonouchi was in fact the only person yet to know of the change in plans.

He didn't see it as that great of an issue, in fact it flew out of his mind for most of Saturday, until finally around the close of the day he realized that if it was all to work out properly Jou would be required to turn up at a different office next shift, and wouldn't be able to do this if someone didn't tell him he needed to. So Seto called him in, in an attempt to explain the situation.

Katsuya was still slightly on edge around Kaiba, but the rest of the week hadn't been _too _bad. He took a seat across from the taller man and folded his arms automatically. He was wearing a slight frown, unsure of what to make of the situation. The other boy looked so serious he really had no idea what to expect. Well, best let him speak and get it over and done with.

Seto clasped his hands together in front of him on the desk. It was an extremely business-like gesture, Katsuya thought.

Without further invitation, the brunet plunged right on into the issue; "Starting next week Yahada will be taking over this job that I've been filling in for, for the last few months."

"Uh… okay?" Katsuya had been vaguely aware of this plan but this was the first he'd heard of anything specific. Let alone that it was going to happen next week.

"Which means I won't be here anymore." Seto waved a hand in emphasis, feeling the sudden need to explain this incase the mutt wasn't capable of coming to that conclusion. "More to the point, Niita, my ever so agreeable assistant over at head office, is going to leave with him. So I'm arranging to have you transferred, and to take over her old job."

Katsuya took a moment to let this sink in. So Kaiba was asking him to change jobs from one office to another. Whether this decision had anything to do with motives associated with the 'snow incident' he couldn't tell; possibly not, knowing how business-like the CEO was. He realized, however, that this was his opportunity to not find out. If he stayed with Kaiba and worked as his _official_ PA, he'd never be able to put this whole mess behind him. But if he declined and stayed here, he would be able to avoid the brunet on a more regular basis. Say, for the rest of his life.

Reaching that decision Katsuya said; "Actually Kaiba, I'd rather not. Uh… if it's all the same to you."

It occurred to Seto that he hadn't ever considered that Jonouchi would say no. So much so that technically he hadn't even phrased it as a question. He was somewhat at a loss for words.

"Well… then… you're fired."

"What!?"

"It's that job or no job. Niita's transferring _here_; I think she and Yahada will get along better. I've already told her so your current job is technically already taken."

"You can't just fire me like that, that's bull shit!"

Seto cast him a warning glare. "I can do whatever I want to. I hardly think I'm being unreasonable, I _am_ offering you another job after all. But you seem to have turned it down."

Katsuya's rebuttal was lost on his tongue, his mouth gaping stupidly with nothing to say as he realized Kaiba was right. He had just turned down the only job now available to him.

"I… um…" His eyes seemed to rove of themselves, looking everywhere but at the man in front of him, "When does Niita start here?"

"Same time as Yahada. Next Monday."

"Oh."

"So I guess you should start looking in the help wanted section." Seto himself recognized that this sounded a little too cold, but he couldn't really reconsider the phrasing now.

"Yeah," Katsuya stood up, and then muttered something about it being five o'clock. He suddenly realized that if he stayed for much longer, he was going to end up punching Kaiba in the face. Just whose fault was this anyway? Kaiba's for not asking him first, or his for not accepting it? Or did blame lie with both parties?

This was insane. _What a bastard, after all my hard work and suddenly my job's just gone, like that?!_

Although, a deep cynical part of himself suggested, you got your wish didn't you? Now you won't have to see him at all, not even the slightest chance.

He kindly told that part to shut the fuck up.

It _being_ five o'clock meant that he was finished for the day, and being Saturday, this was his last day. Ever. Working here. On Monday Niita would start and so would that Western cross breed Yahada, and Kaiba would go back to what he'd normally been doing before he'd ever needed to fill in for Nobita. Katsuya would go back to being unemployed. Life would be as it was, as possibly it should have been.

"Don't leave anything of yours behind, or Niita will have a reason to call me next week to find out where to send it." Seto found that even right now he couldn't stop, insults and backlash rolled off his tongue before he even had a chance to analyze its composition.

Katsuya stopped at the door. Well, he was fired now wasn't he? "You really are a selfish bastard." The only thing he seemed to care about was avoiding a phone call from his annoying ex-assistant.

The part of him that knew deep down he really hadn't wanted Jonouchi to say no, that hadn't expected him to either and therefore was shocked, surprised, and for some reason even a little hurt when he did; hurt even more when he was berated with such a contemptuous tone. He knew before all of this, if this had been three months earlier and he'd fired Jou on the first day he wouldn't have thought twice about it.

_Damn relationship development, damn it to hell!_

"You say that like it's surprising." The CEO looked back down at his desk, trying to give off the aura of someone wanting to get back to work. Rather than someone only pretending to want to get back to work.

"It was."

Seto's eyes widened and he was unable to stop himself from looking up. But Jonouchi, he found, had predictably already left. He might not have realized what he'd said at all, or perhaps he did and didn't want to wait for an answer.

Either way, it just added fuel to the fire blocking Seto from concentrating on anything even remotely constructive for the next few hours.

Now, it seemed, he was going to have to look for a new assistant all over again.

* * *

A/N: I'm not quite sure about this one, it probably could have used a bit more fleshing out, or is that just me over-reacting as normal? Well, I just wanted to get another chapter out before I go back to uni next week. Coz that'll mean less writing time for story, so the next update may take a little longer. I apologize in advance. Many bows and cookies and pleads for reviews are involved. Swift updates compensate for stunted, choppy, sucky chapter development, right?

Until next time-


	11. Closure

Ch 11 (Closure)

A/N: Sorry it took so long, and your review replies were so late.

Disclaimer: Characters, worlds, people, games, and everything else is owned by and copyrighted Kazuki Takahashi. This is a non-for-profit fan work with no particular personal gain in mind. I own the writing and nothing else.

* * *

He was not sure what woke him but later he would surmise that pain had something to do with it. It was early, that much he could tell without having to think, but further than that was proving difficult. 

Katsuya opened his eyes slowly, as they seemed reluctant to do so despite the fact that he was conscious. The room slid into focus and his first thought was an adamant; W_here the fuck am I? _The walls didn't look right, the cupboard didn't look right, the pictures didn't look right…

Hang on a tick. That was Honda in one of those pictures… with that dog that didn't like him… which meant…

Wait. He _did _know this room. It was Honda's room. What the crap was he doing in there!? He noted that his head was pounding and in particular his jaw, but he tried to disregard either of those facts until he had gained his bearings. He was comfortable enough to realize he was in a bed. Which also accounted for the fact that he had been asleep. And from memory the exit was to his left.

He turned with the hope of getting out, and stopped abruptly as he discovered he was not the only person in there. Anzu was lying next to him, slumbering under the covers. His eyes wide, he did the only rational thing that came to his mind; he peaked under the sheets for a split second.

_Oh thank Christ, her clothes are still on. _

That could have potentially been a rather sticky situation. Come to think of it, his clothes were still on too. Hooray for small victories. Now to work out how and why he was there with her in the first place.

Rolling to his other side, knowing that Honda's bed (if indeed it was Honda's bed although the likelihood was high seeing as he was pretty sure this was Honda's room) was not against a wall, he let out a small cry of alarm as he realized that in fact there was a third person in the bed.

Curled on his side with the covers drawn right up to his nose, Yugi slept soundly. He was turned away from Katsuya, so only the tufts of purple and red identified the body. From behind the stunned blond Anzu stirred, awakened by his sounds of surprise.

She groaned quietly and then raised the hand furthest away from him to rub her sleepy eyes. He moved onto his back again and shifted his eyes to stare at her. Yugi didn't seem disturbed at all, and Katsuya vaguely recalled the knowledge that he was a heavy sleeper.

She sat up slowly and looked back down at him, hair askew and eyes surrounded by smudged eye liner; "Morning."

"Um…"

She just stared at him, apparently still quite tired. Which wasn't very helpful.

"Why… am I here? And… where… is this Honda's?"

Anzu sighed in a resigned kind of way, almost as if she'd been anticipating this reaction. "Yeah, it's Honda's, you git. You've only been here a million…" She let out a wide yawn which made him yawn in turn, "…times."

"Fill me in on why?" His head was beginning to reassert its position, reminding him it was in pain, but he wanted to continue pushing that to the side for as long as he could tolerate it. Facts were probably more important right now.

"Three guesses." She said rubbing her eyes again; apparently she didn't have her usual patience so early into the day.

He racked his brains… unfortunately when he tried to recall how he'd gotten there his mind produced an empty page. Like a portion of his memory had been completely erased.

He gave her a blank kind of look that clearly implied he had no idea.

She flopped back down again before replying. "You got drunk. Real drunk."

"Oh." He paused, "Why did I do that?"

"I dunno. You seemed pretty dead set keen on getting hammered though. Not even Honda could stop you."

"Oh." He said again.

"Guess it worked though, hey? You don't even remember why it was you wanted to get drunk in the first place."

"What makes you think I wanted to forget something?" At least he could now properly identify the cause of the pain in his head.

"Jou, this is what you do _every time _something bad happens and you want to pretend it hasn't." She had the air of a teacher tired of explaining the obvious to her student.

"Really?" He had no idea she had analyzed him to such an extent. _He_ wasn't even aware he did that.

"Yes."

"Does it work?"

"Of course not."

"Well, shit."

"So be sure to know that I'll be questioning you later on the reason why."

"No! Don't buy that one! Get carrots instead."

Whatever Katsuya may have replied to her statement was lost. He turned to where Yugi was still sleeping; the tiny duelist appeared as tranquil as before. "Still talks in his sleep?"

"Apparently."

"Yami likes carrots."

"Thanks for sharing." Katsuya muttered, as Anzu barely suppressed a laugh. There were a few moments of silence before he broke them again.

"My head hurts like hell."

"I'm not surprised."

"But… why does my jaw hurt?"

She didn't answer for so long that he turned to her questioningly, sure she hadn't fallen back asleep. Eventually she sighed, "Try to remember on your own, otherwise I guess I'll have to tell you when I get back." She pulled the covers off of herself, and swung her legs out of the bed and her upper body into a sitting position.

"Hey, where are you going?"

"To get you some painkillers."

Katsuya digested this for a moment then replied, "So you do know how much I admire and appreciate you, right? Never a better woman out there than you Anzu."

"Yeah yeah, thank me later." By this time she was at the door, so slipped out and away into the rest of the house.

He stared up at the ceiling, willing the pain in his brain to subside, whilst he tried to think around it. Okay, last night… he remembered being at his house and consuming every liquid within it that had alcoholic content, (darn, he'd have to re-supply), and his friends had been drinking too but probably not as much as him although he hadn't thought so at the time. Then they'd probably gone out to continue to effort…

Really straining to recall details now, he was glad when Anzu arrived back after only a short time carrying a glass of water and some promising looking boxes. She motioned for him to sit up so he could take them properly.

The act of moving brought on a wave of nausea and he had to sit for a minute with his hand pressed firmly to his forehead and wait for it to subside. Finally he took her offered glass and grasped quickly at the tablets she had produced in her other hand then threw them to the back of his throat. He took in a large mouthful of drink and swallowed, the tablets already beginning to dissolve. He was quite good at taking those, thoroughly used to the exercise from the amount of painkillers he'd been on his entire life. A childhood of violence had its downsides.

"Ah, what would I do without you?" He shot her a cheesy smile and in return she rolled her eyes. He took another sip to make sure they had gone down properly then placed the cup on the table next to the bed.

Before any more could be said or done a greeting came from the doorway.

"I see you're up. Mind you don't spew all over my bed." Katsuya turned to where Honda was standing in the doorway. Behind the brunet Otogi was rubbing his eye distractedly in the same kind of way Anzu had been. There was no more room in the bed so they'd probably had to sleep in a different part of the house. Katsuya felt mildly guilty, seeing as this _was _Honda's own room.

"No promises." He muttered.

Otogi yawned and brushed past his friend to walk over and sit down on the bed, making the blond yawn again. Clearly he hadn't had sufficient enough hours of sleep; "Feelin' like shit?" the dark haired boy inquired politely.

"Yup. Aren't any of you?"

"'Course, but none of us had quite the night you did."

"I think Ryou is still asleep." Honda said in an explanatory way, also taking a seat, although Katsuya wouldn't have even known to ask. The bed was one of those queen or king sizes, so was large enough to have them all sitting on there.

All the noise seemed to have finally roused Yugi from his thick slumber. He managed a string of jumbled words that were more like simple noises and sounds than anything coherent. Then he pulled himself upright and blinked around at the gathered company. "Mornin'!" He smiled sleepily.

Yugi's hair was more static than usual; Katsuya knew that it required some amount of 'taming' in the mornings. There was a chorus of greetings returned before the blond steered the conversation back to what he was most curious about.

"So um, kinda drawing a blank on what happened last night…"

"You drank a lot." Yugi supplied unhelpfully.

"And we mean _a lot _a lot." Otogi added.

"Thoughts on why my jaw hurts? Did I fall over or something?" That was a fairly common occurrence when inebriated.

"You did." Honda conceded with a smile, "But that's not why your jaw hurts."

Katsuya looked almost anxious, "Then someone…"

"Punched you in the face?" Otogi suggested.

"Yeah?" Too much to hope that the Dice Master was joking.

"Sure did." Anzu replied almost happily.

Katsuya groaned.

"I haven't seen you get into a fight in ages." Yugi pondered aloud. This was quite true; Jou had lately been turning away from situations that would before have been solved by his fists and feet. It probably had something to do with maturity, even if Honda had joked that this was a stage the blond would never reach.

"And a drunken fight no less." Anzu didn't hide the hint of disappointment and annoyance in her voice.

"With… who?" An image of Kaiba swirled around in his mind, although at present he couldn't quite recall why this would have been the first person he most wanted to get into a brawl with. The memories were coming back slowly but surely however. He didn't think they would be pleasant.

To his questionably immense relief, Honda said; "Some random from the club we were at. No idea who he was."

He turned to Yugi, "He throw the first punch?"

The boy shrugged, "I don't know, I wasn't anywhere near you at the time."

"I'm pretty sure you did." Honda supplied.

"Ah."

"It was for a good cause though." Otogi assured him.

"The sleaze wouldn't leave Anzu alone, no matter how many times she told him to piss off." Honda continued to explain the story.

Katsuya turned to his friend who he'd somehow managed to wake up beside, almost as if he needed her to confirm the details. She gave a less than enthusiastic shrug. Anzu was capable of standing up for herself, and he wasn't sure whether he'd managed to give her ample time to do that last night or not. Due to her earlier observations that he only drank heavily to forget when something really bad happened, he was now thinking that maybe he had all too readily punched the random stranger simply because he was looking for outlets.

"Very noble of you, really." Anzu said slightly sarcastically and rolled her eyes again.

"Well that's me, you know." Katsuya gave an almost forced smile.

"Then I think you two were thrown out." Yugi thought back innocently, speaking matter-of-factly.

Katsuya paled.

"I think you wanted to keep fighting him but I'd found you by that time so managed to convince you to stop. The moron ran off anyway." Honda remarked off-handedly.

"And _then _you fell over." Otogi concluded with a smirk and a small chuckle.

Well, even Katsuya could admit that in hindsight it probably was even a little bit amusing. So he laughed along with everyone else.

"Sorry about taking your bed." Yugi apologized.

"Na, it's no problem. I get it every other night anyway." Honda waved a hand dismissively, "Think I'll go wake Ryou up though, then get some breakfast."

Katsuya's stomach seemed to churn at the very idea of in taking food; "I think I'll skip breakfast."

Honda grinned, "Suit yourself."

He was off after that, and slowly they all filed out of the room. Katsuya found that being upright was nauseating for most of the morning but by about mid afternoon he had gotten over that feeling and only had the headache and jaw ache to deal with. He slept for a few more hours at Honda's place, and only finally made it back home later into the evening.

Needless to say, the mess of bottles that awaited him was one of the most spectacular he'd ever seen.

* * *

It was something of a winter tradition to go down to the beach and eat ice creams. They normally only braved this once, having had a year to forget how much of a stupid idea it was in the first place. Nevertheless it was always highly amusing once they got home and de-frosted, especially if it had been raining or snowing that day, since they would soldier on regardless. 

Rugged up as warmly as they did any other day of the week, only perhaps with an extra scarf, the group trouped down to the shore cheerily and in cold but high spirits. It was a public holiday so all of them could be together for once; no one had work or classes they had to scurry off to. The Yami's were even out, though they were keeping well away from each other, and this was a first in quite awhile (mainly in Bakura's case). Katsuya was joking and grinning along with the others, and although this was not a front per say, this was not an entirely accurate reflection of his feelings either. He had, by this time, remembered exactly why it was he had decided to throw a random night of drunkenness in the first place; Kaiba had fired him. He remembered why, he remembered what he had said and what Kaiba had said, and he even remembered having the desire to smash the CEO's pretty face into the ground. And although that wouldn't have helped it would have made him feel better.

Unfortunately this was just like all those other occasions lately that the brunet had made him feel frustrated but had a seemingly good reason to defend himself with. Katsuya's anger was short-lived because he knew deep down that he was partly to blame for his sudden state of unemployment. Kaiba's words floated back to him, saying that he _had_ offered him another job; he just hadn't chosen to accept it.

Then again, wasn't it rude of the CEO not to inform him of the staff changes or to ask whether he even _wanted _to change positions?! And to just fill his current job without telling him someone else was going to?!?!

He could easily imagine Kaiba rebutting that saying something along the lines of, "I own a multi-million dollar company, I can do whatever I want." But that didn't really help, as it was quite true. People with money had power. People in charge of companies had power.

Kaiba had all three.

And that sucked, as far as Katsuya was concerned.

He also knew, however, was that it really wasn't something he had the luxury to mope about. He had to move on quickly if he wanted to keep eating. He'd managed to save enough for about another month or so… but after that he was really screwed. He also hadn't told any of his friends yet, he was still debating how exactly to broach the subject. Anzu, being the quiet observer she was, had already pointed out to him that she suspected something was up. So he'd been desperately avoiding being alone with her at all costs ever since she mentioned it the morning he'd woken up at Honda's with a hang over. So far he had been unusually successful in this feat, however when the time came for ice creams to be fetched and Katsuya had been asked to carry out this task, Anzu had been the first to volunteer to lend him a hand. Try as he might to persuade anyone else to join them, no one was willing to miss the opportunity to see Bakura being bitten by a Sand Crab, so that left just the two of them to make the walk alone to the sea side kiosk.

Anzu deliberately walked much slower than normal, and not wanting to seem rude he slackened his pace to match hers. He knew what would come next.

"So, how are things Jou?" She sounded casual, but he was sure she was aware he'd been trying to avoid both her and this conversation for nearly a week.

"Fine." He replied quickly.

"Really? Nothing's wrong at all?" She had a sweet and inviting tone, however he knew her too well to not realize it was largely an act. Anzu cared very much about her friends, but that wasn't to say she wouldn't try any method possible to extract from them what their troubles were. She at least had good intentions, he would concede.

He threw her a slightly annoyed look, "You seem like you already have an answer, so why do you need to ask?"

He could swear her eye practically glinted, "Oh well, I may have my theories but without your input I can't count any of them as facts, can I?" Throwing away all facades of innocence.

"I'd like to hear some of them…"

She exaggerated a thinking face, "Well, lately I'd have to say most of your problems have seemed to revolve somewhat around Kaiba. So at a guess I'd suggest that something happened at work or with the high and mighty boss man himself. As to specifically what it could be I'm a little more unsure. You guys used to fight all the time so something so petty I doubt would want to make you try to forget you ever existed, therefore it has to be something more dramatic. Did you do something bad? Set his office on fire? Oh! Did you find out a horrible secret about his childhood? Does he have an evil half-brother? Have you found out a way to cripple his company and are blackmailing him with it!?"

"I think you've been watching that crazy drama show a little too much lately."

She laughed, "Yeah probably. So none of those things?" Her voice raised hopefully.

"Nope, sorry." He grinned.

"I'll just have to keep guessing then, want to give me a hint?"

"Na. More fun to hear your ludicrous workplace suggestions." He had, he realized, already fallen into her well-constructed trap. She'd managed to get him to confess, though not in so many words, that there _was_ a problem he was keeping from her. And furthermore that she was on the right track when it came to his boss.

Where was his Scapegoat card when he needed it?

"Not even one tiny hint?" She threw him her best puppy dog look. He sighed in defeat. Not because of the pathetic expression she couldn't hope to pull off properly, but because he was well aware how long she could go on asking him for. Women had a weird way of nagging until you relented. It was annoying even at it's most unobtrusive, and sometimes it just seemed to get worse the longer you left it. So, like a bandage, it was best to just brace yourself and rip it off all in one go, as soon as possible.

"Look, I'll tell you but, clearly I haven't told anyone else yet…" She was smart enough to figure out what he was asking he assumed.

Anzu was indeed, "I won't share it with them until you have told them yourself."

He nodded at her in thanks, "Short version is; I got fired."

He let her gasp, no longer shocked by the information himself. "Why? What happened!?"

"You know his PA, Niita? Well, he decided she worked a lot better with Yahada… he's the guy taking over Shichi Corporation… so he sent her off to work as the new guy's assistant, but of course that left _him_ without an assistant so basically he wanted me to take over her old job. Kinda like just switching us both."

"Yeah. So, uh… what's the problem? How is that getting fired? Actually isn't that more like a promotion?"

He hadn't thought of it like that before, "Uh… I guess. But anyway, I said no and he hadn't told me the rest of the story before hand so said it was that job or no job, so I'm fired."

She raised an eyebrow, no longer as shocked by the information; "Well yeah, if this Nii-person had already taken over the other job you wouldn't have that one, right?"

"Yes but he didn't tell me that."

"But he did… didn't you just say he did? How else would you know all of this?"

"Yeah but he didn't tell me _first_." Katsuya paused, "That sounded less childish in my head."

"I'm sure. Anyway, I don't see what the problem is, why didn't you take the other job?"

"I…" And then he faltered. He'd forgotten the essential part of the story was the reason why, and the reason why was another thing he was yet to share with his friends. Now that it came to spilling the secret he found himself acutely embarrassed. To his knowledge no one else he knew had ever been in a similar position. It was not that he didn't think they'd understand or would turn on him… he couldn't explain it really. It was simply something, an event, that he hadn't planned on sharing with the world.

Not that Anzu encompassed the entire globe or had contacts with each of its inhabitants. But his world was his friends, and he felt it just wasn't the time to press upon them his troubles or his fears about his feelings towards Kaiba.

So he tried to answer as vaguely as possible, "Well, I, um… you know… just, things… happened…"

Damnit, he wasn't normally this evasive or incapable of speech. He was certainly not a shy person, so being unable to tell people things and having to feel uncomfortable around Kaiba was beginning to annoy him.

Luckily, Anzu looked like she had understood a whole lot more than he had just said. She turned to him with a caring and understanding expression.

He quickly waved his arms defensively, "Um… don't take that the wrong way though…"

Again, she looked like she understood what he meant entirely. It was a weird feeling for him, to not have to explain himself so much. He was enveloped by a wave of relief that he was currently talking to a girl who understood these things rather than one of his male friends who would have needed it to be spelled out in giant fluorescent flashing lights on a billboard for them to fully comprehend.

"So _stuff happened _and as a result you said no."

"Yes."

"But do you really think Kaiba just wanted you to move offices so that…"

"No." He cut her off, not even quite understanding why he was rushing to the man's defense; "I think he just thinks I am a better assistant than Niita is. Was. That and he doesn't have the time to interview new ones."

She shrugged in a 'well if you're sure' kind of way, and then there was silence for a moment while she looked thoughtful.

"So, what's the plan then?"

"The… plan?" He repeated, not quite sure what she meant.

"Yes. You know, your plan of action? Course of movement? Gingerbread trail to recovery?"

He blinked at her.

"What are you going to do about it?" She re-phrased flatly.

"Look for another job?" He suggested.

"But Jou, you _have_ a job, you just turned it down."

"Yes. I think there's a word for what you just said… oxymoron?"

"Not quite."

"Well anyway, you just contradicted yourself. You see, I turned it down therefore I _don't _have a job."

"Well, Kaiba still needs an assistant right?"

"He's probably already hired someone else by now." Katsuya muttered a little irritably, feeling an odd tinge of jealousy at the thought of someone else taking his place.

"So why don't you just say you reconsidered?"

"What!? No way, I can't do that!"

She frowned, "Why not?"

"Because… because… I mean I have my _pride_, Anzu!"

She made a noise that sounded like 'pffft' and waved a hand dismissively.

He shot her a small glare, "Yeah well, what if I don't _want_ the job anyway eh?"

She returned it with a leveling look. "Jonouchi, forget what happened between you. If it was really that bad I think you would be either a lot more depressed or a lot more angry. You have to think about work as work. The job as a means of income to keep you alive and with a roof over your head. If this is really the time to move on another opportunity will present itself however you _have _already gotten one opportunity so far."

He opened his mouth to rebuke this, say something along the lines of not having that anymore, but she continued and disregarded his protests; "Do you really not want that job so badly?"

"Well, no. A job's a job like you say, and I'm used to it now…"

"Exactly." She proclaimed, as Katsuya played right into her hands once more; "So just ask for it back and everything's okay."

He didn't think she was going to be able to understand. Even if he did want it back again he couldn't just ring Kaiba and say 'Hey buddy, I changed my mind, no hard feelings yeah?' There was the issue of his wounded pride, but also, he honestly didn't think Kaiba would have kept an interest in him for this long. The CEO was an efficient man, he would have been surprised to find that he wasn't already in the process of recruiting someone new. Someone who could be a lot better than he was.

"He's probably already hired someone else. Seriously Anzu, just forget it, it's a lost cause."

"No it's not! If you want the job you have to ask for it back!" If they had been stationary rather than walking up a cold beach, she might have taken the opportunity to place her hands on her hips in dramatic and stubborn emphasis. As it was she did her best to gesture forcefully.

"Oh so now I want this job?"

"Yes, you do."

He sighed, not really wanting to disagree with her when he didn't feel particularly against her argument anyway. He _did _want the job. Well, at least, he wanted his old job. He still wasn't entirely sure he wanted to be exclusively Kaiba's assistant after all that had happened, although his protests at the thought were becoming less and less verbal by the day. He was drawing near to the point where he would be able to disregard the kiss entirely, and simply be happy to work as a PA and forget it had ever happened. Dealing with his own personal odd feelings could wait.

"Look, even if I do, like I already said he's probably hired someone by now…"

"There's only one way to find out."

He almost tripped when he was hit with the image of him having to crawl back to Kaiba and ask for his job back. He didn't think he could face such a demeaning task. "I can't."

"Swallow your pride Jou; you need a job to keep your apartment." A touch of irritation laced her voice.

"Yeah but, you don't understand… it's _Kaiba_. Just think of how much he'd mock me if I came groveling back." He waved his arms in exasperation.

She sighed in a way that was similar to a grown up sick to death of explaining to a small child that even though they couldn't see it now, in the long run sticking crayons up their nose was not a good plan. "Then you've got to start thinking of this in a purely professional way. It is perfectly acceptable to inquire about a position that you are interested in. In this case you declined but have reconsidered, and simply wish to ask whether the job is still open."

Try as he might Katsuya just couldn't imagine him phrasing the question in the same way.

"So ask." She pressed again when he didn't say anything.

"Well, it's fine for you to just go ahead and say it like that, but I'm the one who has to stare into that smug face while I plead for my income back."

"No one's asking you to plead."

"But isn't that practically what I'd be doing? It's groveling! It's everything he thinks I am and I'm not, not really."

"Don't get upset…"

"I'm not upset!" He interrupted her, and once she raised her eyebrow at him added, in a much calmer tone of voice; "Really. I'm not. I just don't want to have to ask him."

Anzu thought that it was high time she stopped dancing around and being nice about it. Perhaps if Jou was to take notice she would have to be a lot blunter…

"Listen to me. The time for not having to do that has passed. You turned down the job, now the only thing you _can _do is ask for it back. I hate to say so but it does seem like you are partially to blame for this. If what had happened between you two was really blocking you from going back there then we wouldn't even be having this discussion. You would have happily accepted your dismissal and moved on. But you haven't, you're here explaining to me that you don't want to ask for it back, but that you would like it all the same. Well Jou, the only way you're going to get it is to ask. So get _over_ what's keeping you from doing so and bloody ask him. And if he laughs in your face he can fucking go to hell."

Katsuya stared at her for a few long moments. She had gone slightly red in the face, especially following her final declaration but eventually turned to him again with a determined expression. He might have been used to swearing quite often, but she reserved profanity for only those times when she was really angry or needed to make a point and have people listen to what it was. This seemed to be one of those times. And it had certainly made him take note.

"Got it." He mumbled almost humbly, and she gave a satisfied nod. They walked in silence until they reached the ramp leading up to the kiosk. He was glad to have had the conversation, but the task ahead of him did not seem any easier. Before now he had been only thinking of how bad the situation was and where else he might be able to find work, the possibility of still being about to keep his old one not hanging around. And although these things were still on his mind, he now began to contemplate what Anzu had suggested, and could consider that maybe that option was not closed off entirely.

You never really knew until you asked, right?

He also knew that Kaiba wouldn't want to go too long without someone to help him, so time was rather of the essence. It had been just over a week since he'd been fired, and the CEO worked quickly. He honestly didn't hold much hope that there was still an opening.

Ice creams in hand, so many so that they had hardly made it back down onto the sand before his fingers felt as though they were about to detach from his body, they started heading back to deliver the goods. Long thoughtful silences stretched between them again so that Katsuya was left to further reflect on his predicament.

He was, once again, not looking forward to the week ahead.

* * *

It had been a rollicking week of discovery. Revelations just kept popping up all over the place. Seto had discovered, for example, a whole new layer of dust on the filing cabinet beside Niita's old desk. He discovered undelivered mail dated two months ago _in _her desk. He discovered that an empty bottle of nail polish remover was sitting under his lounge chair, and that she had replaced his coffee table book with a popular women's magazine that was devoted to the whereabouts, made up scandals, and illegitimate offspring of celebrities. 

As for revelations, he had found out that it was not a good idea to yell at the courier downstairs over the phone as then his package would arrive having had coffee 'accidentally' spilled on top of it. He found out that two of his employees from accounting were sleeping together after one of their emails got re-directed to the wrong address. But most importantly, he found out that even more frustrating than having Niita as a PA, was having no assistant at all.

Mokuba had suggested that he only really needed someone to help him part time, but the fact still remained that needed someone for at least some of the timeNot having help this week had been disastrous. With no one to screen his calls he'd had to take every one of them. Many of his less important clients and associates were gob smacked to hear that it was actually _the _Kaiba Seto answering the phone, not being used to such an audience when they rang. And with so many phone calls coming in (especially once the word spread around that Kaiba was now personally answering each and every one of them) he hadn't been able to have a meeting without at least three interrupting ring tones.

It was downright annoying.

There was also the issue of the un-filed paperwork, the time he wasted having to go search for past reports and documents he needed, he had to manually type out notes from a few of his meetings, and through his stress there wasn't even any one to bring him a decent cup of coffee. And that, honestly, just planted a very large cherry on top of a very large cake baked with frustration.

He was sure this couldn't go on for much longer. He needed another assistant but a small part of him was still hung up on the fact that Jonouchi had declined. If only the idiotic mutt had had the sense to just accept then he wouldn't be in this mess. Everything would be fine and right now he wouldn't be sorting his mail, he would be working on his speech.

Sunday would see the grand opening of his new themed attraction, 'Petrified Park'. It was an amusement park with a horror theme, all of the rides designed to thrill and scare the carnival-goers. The new investment had cost him a lot of money, but for some reason he was more concerned about finding someone to water his pot plants at the present moment. Unlike his take over with Shichi, he _knew _this was a move that was going to work out well. That part of town had seen the lowest income from entertainment activities, and comprehensive surveys showed that most people felt that the main amusement parks the city had to offer were simply too far away. So Seto had decided he would bring entertainment to them.

It was also very close to Christmas, which meant that both before, but especially after, children would be looking for a new place to spend all of their money. Petrified Park provided them with a golden opportunity to do just this. The season also hailed many upcoming public holidays in which people were looking for things to fill up their day, and parents could escort the much younger children.

And this theme park had family admission price – what more could anyone possibly want!

It practically sold itself.

Referring back to the speech, Seto was being forced (that was, his public relations people strongly suggested it was a good idea) to make an address in the morning before it was opened to the crowd. Then he was advised to hang around for a little while, be seen in some photos enjoying his new theme park, and then he would be finally okay'd to head home.

This was a formality he was quite used to. Seto had known, before taking over his adopted fathers company, that once he did his life would no longer be his own. (Not that it really had been since the adoption anyway). But he referred more specifically here to the attention the media paid both him and his company. He was something of a novelty: the boy-genius who controlled the most profitable business in Domino before even graduating high school. And his business acquisitions and ventures were usually headline news. This coming Saturday's Grand Opening was a well-publicized event, and he expected quite a large crowd.

Yes, it was going to be a profitable day for Kaiba Corp. but he still had to write that darn speech. He was actually tempted to struggle through his back log of files and just find and tweak an old one. It wasn't really cheating; he felt the act of modifying a document he owned and had written himself years before was entirely justified under the stressful situations he was currently putting himself through.

Pausing in the act of opening a letter with a crafted letter-opener that had been given to him as a birthday present two years ago by someone who was possibly Yahada's father or certainly an old man who looked a lot like him but had felt the need to suck up, and which he had never used until this day, Seto contemplated this option. It was so appealing he put down the knife-shaped potential weapon to cross the room to one of the many filing cabinets he owned and started looking for one that seemed appropriate.

This wasn't hard to accomplish, and soon he was seated back at his desk with speech in hand. With a sweep of his arm he pushed the letters he'd been sifting through aside and pulled out his lap top from where it was resting inside its case next to his desk. He was feeling oddly happy to be able to work on this. For months now all he had been able to concentrate on was working out the problems with Shichi Corporations production, and then in the more recent month explaining to his successor how to run a company.

That wasn't to say that he would be letting Yahada anywhere near Kaiba Corp. Oh no. In this case, if Mokuba showed any interest it would be he who eventually took over from Seto. However he didn't believe that was an issue that really needed worrying about at this point in time. More important was how he was going to change this speech, how well he would perform it, and how he was going to get a new assistant.

Because Lord knows he needed one.

_Damn, I wish someone would bring me a bagel. _

* * *

Even knowing he should probably have gone home from the conversation with Anzu, picked up the phone straight away and called Kaiba, Katsuya found that when it came to it he just couldn't bring himself to dial the number. Without another brutal talking-to by Anzu he had reverted to being unable to accept the task of going back on bended-knee and asking for his job. It was just too shameful. 

He'd had a dream wherein Kaiba laughed for 11 hours straight at the idea of Katsuya being reinstated, and then finally told him he'd already hired someone else, indicating to a blindfolded monkey mashing a banana into a keyboard.

This did not help his constitution.

Two days after they'd returned from the beach resembling somewhat chilly icicles, Yugi had made a round of excited phone calls announcing that he had decided they would all attend the opening of a new theme park that weekend. Katsuya had instantly agreed, but had afterwards discovered that this was, naturally, one of Kaiba's own. He had recalled in his annoyed state that he remembered seeing some of the photos and plans displayed on the CEO's computer screen some weeks before, so the news that now it was ready for a grand opening should not have really been all that surprising. He dreaded the thought of what Anzu would say to him on the day.

He wanted to hold onto the hope that the proud owner himself would not be there too for as long as possible. And this did work throughout the week of study and half-hearted attempts at a job hunt, during the journey on the train to the new location, and even while they waited somewhere amongst a huge crowd of attendees, media crews, and theme park enthusiasts. However once the whisperings going around that Kaiba Seto himself would be making an address before it opened, his hope packed it's bags and caught the next taxi back home. He had noticed that after this information was rushed past, Anzu redoubled her efforts to catch his eye.

He was staring in determination in the opposite direction however, so much so that Ryou, who he hadn't realized was in his line of spaced out sight, got rather flustered, and said hesitantly; "Is there something on my face?"

They had decided to come early (although Honda had to practically drag Katsuya sleeping from his bed) to make sure they were allowed in. Assuming that like with many other theme parks this one would stop admitting entry once it got too crowded.

As it was there were already many people gathered by the time they arrived. Having to wait awhile for anything to happen Katsuya had a lot of time to scout out the entrance, the small platform and stand that he presumed Kaiba would come to stand on soon enough, the ticket booths, the fenced boundary that stretched off into the distance, and the giant but promising rides that loomed up behind the closed gates of entry.

Where it had been snowing yesterday it was now just cold again, and everyone out there was rugged to the teeth in warm jackets, gloves, scarves, beanies and boots. Next to him, Yugi rubbed his hands up and down his arms in an attempt to rekindle feeling in them, and Katsuya heard him mutter "Yeah, s'alright for you…" under his breath. This was not an uncommon occurrence. The good friends of both Yugi and Ryou, who knew about their 'partners' were quite used to the occasionally uttered-out-loud comment that was no doubt intended towards their yami. Yugi had once burst out laughing in the middle of a conversation concerning the series topic of level design in the latest popular online RPG and once he had wiped the juice that had escaped his nose had apologized profusely but hastily refused to repeat the joke to anyone.

Things like that just sort of _happened _when your best friend was possessed by a three thousand year old undead spirit.

Finally, after what seemed like hours of waiting, Kaiba arrived. His limo appeared in true celebrity style, and even before the doors opened people were snapping photos. _Must be really classy door handles, _Katsuya thought with irritation.

They were a little too far away to see properly, but he had seen the good for nothing CEO no more than two weeks ago and didn't really have any desire to be closer at that moment anyway. Once Kaiba scaled the platform and stood behind the microphone he was hit with an inexplicable urge to hide. For the first time in his life he wished he was the same height as Yugi.

He soon realized that there was no way he could be spotted in such a large crowd of people, they weren't even standing in the middle, they were sort of squashed away towards the side so the view he had of Kaiba's face was almost a profile. He noticed, with a small smile, that Mokuba was there today too. He was standing with some men in black suits, pointing and gives directions. One of the men scurried off to carry out whatever task it might have been.

Kaiba cleared his throat and the crowd hushed. He smiled. Katsuya thought it looked plastic. And then he started off a clearly well-rehearsed speech welcoming them all to this place today.

"Hey…" A tiny voice whispered in his ear. He practically jumped; it had scared him half to death. He hadn't realized how closely he'd been following Kaiba despite the fact that most of his thoughts were vengeful ones.

He turned his head slightly to where she was standing. Damn that woman, she had managed to sneak up on him at last. Anzu looked almost pleased at his surprise, but hid it very well.

She whispered in very low tones so that the others would have had to really strain to hear her. The CEO's voice was quite loud and booming anyway, and drowned out most personal conversations that would no doubt have been flitting around the crowd. "Look who's here today…"

She nodded towards the stand in case it wasn't obvious who she was talking about. Katsuya frowned back at her.

She looked like she wanted to grin, "I bet you haven't called him yet."

"So what?" He kept his voice quite as low as hers.

"So you should talk to him."

"Oh yeah, I'll just stroll up to him now, interrupt his nice little speech…"

"Not _now_, silly."

He rolled his eyes.

"But I bet he'll hang around for publicity photos. All you have to do is sneak in while he's on a break."

"Anzu." He tried to speak quietly but firmly, "I am _not _asking for it back while there are so many people around."

She was not to be deterred however, "Then you should have called him."

He had left half and ear with Kaiba and his welcoming speech, and by the sounds of it, it was about to draw to a close. "I'm not talking about this right now." He whispered with annoyance and finality, turning back around so that he could not see her anymore.

She was unable to reply, or if she had he didn't hear it, as sure enough, the next second the CEO had finished and a great chorus of claps and cheers followed it. Yugi responded enthusiastically, Honda and Otogi clapped twice then abandoned the effort. Katsuya didn't clap or cheer, as he was watching the brunet leave the platform and walk away.

He wasn't sure what he should do. Certainly, it seemed like opportunity had presented itself, however perhaps not in the most desirable way. Surely Kaiba would not cease to be surrounded by people all day. If in fact he stayed all day. And Katsuya wasn't sure he wanted to beg for his job back in public.

Well, he didn't want to beg for his job back _at all. _But that didn't seem to concern the Gods of Fate, who apparently had it out for him.

Someone suddenly shoved him in the back. He yelled an irritated "Hey!" before Honda pointed out to him that the crowd was moving forwards. Sure enough, people were finally being let in. For a tiny moment excitement replaced the sinking feeling that had been developing in his stomach, until he saw both Mokuba and his older brother right at the front of the line being led through the entrance gates into the park.

He thought that it really didn't help that Kaiba looked great in that black jacket.

Next to him, Anzu plotted silently. She felt she knew that without further encouragement Jou was likely to get nowhere today. And there was no way he could miss this opportunity. She would find a way, any way, to get him to speak to Kaiba. So from this moment on, operation "Get Jou's Job Back" would commence.

* * *

Small amounts of snow that hadn't yet melted decorated the entirety of the theme park like a thinly sprinkled layer of icing sugar. The effect of the huge rides and themed decorations that featured in positively every nook and cranny was slightly dulled by this. If it had been the middle of summer the gigantic haunted house on top of the hill, that was sure to be the parks most popular ride and icon, would definitely have been more looming and scary looking (as was no doubt the intention). However with the frosting of snow the effect was not quite as dramatic. Like a serial killer wielding a chainsaw with a large pink bow attached to it. 

For Katsuya however, even this was bad enough. He had never felt comfortable around horror movies, always avoided the ghost trains in normal theme parks, and now he was beginning to realize just what it meant to be coming to an amusement park whose every ride and sideshow was designed to make you scream. Or at least widen your eyes in shock. He found himself thinking on more than one occasion, _Just the kind of sick thing only Kaiba could think up…_ Particularly whilst passing a row of extremely well crafted shrunken heads. He went so far as to voice out loud his suspicions that they might not actually be plastic at all.

"So that's what happens when his employees get fired. You'd better watch out Jou." Otogi remarked.

Anzu had thrown him another pointed look at this point, but he found he had suddenly become very interested in the nearby wall.

All morning Anzu had been plotting. Or at least, trying to plot. She didn't think she was making a lot of progress, discovering that getting the two men in the same vicinity was not going to be as easy as expected. She couldn't run off and find Kaiba, that would be too obvious. And she couldn't suggest they all go find him because she failed to see a plausible reason for doing this. Other than the actual reason, but since no one else knew the actual reason, 'oh, just to say hi' wouldn't really hold up. So in desperation she had resorted to simply keeping all ears open for conversation amongst the other attendees concerning the whereabouts of the owners.

Whenever she heard that they were last spotted next to the side shows, she would suddenly announce she had the urge to play some. Her desires to play certain games or experience certain rides fluctuated so often and so randomly that she was sure the others were beginning to wonder whether she was having issues that day. And perhaps Jou himself was beginning to suspect something.

He never spoke out against it though, if indeed he did know of her badly constructed plan. A guilty, resentful part of herself thought that he should be more grateful someone was trying to help him, but she was the kind of person who would offer help without question anyway. Jou himself certainly wasn't making any visible effort to try to find Kaiba and ask for his job back.

It was getting into the afternoon by the time Anzu's hard work and constant running around dragging boys behind her finally paid off. There, on the same path as them, stood a group of security guards surrounding the two most important executives of Kaiba Corporation. Every one of the troupe looked quite relaxed, perhaps a little tired after an entire morning out in public. As if on cue Mokuba stretched and yawned. Beside him his older brother stood with arms crossed and the kind of stern expression he'd worn ever since Anzu had first met him. She distantly wondered how long their calm would last until they were interrupted by screaming fan girls and boys again.

Well, she herself wasn't screaming, but she was sure as heck going to interrupt them. There was no way she could let this opportunity slip by.

"Hey look!" And just to emphasize the discovery, she pointed dramatically with her index finger over at the Kaiba brothers.

Slowly they all turned around, having been previously busy studying a game that required you to shoot moving ghosts with a rifle. Like many of the side shows in the park, the game used technology immersed with the high tech weapons to site the targets, and although of course they were not real bullets, the guns still made a firing noise whenever one shot with it.

From the amount of enthusiasm Anzu had used to make the declaration, Katsuya thought he knew what she had finally found. He was not oblivious to the fact that she had been very out of character all morning, changing her mind every two minutes as to what she wanted to do. He suspected that she was trying to steer them in Kaiba's direction, and sure enough, there he was.

The CEO looked irritable and annoyed, but that could quite honestly have been Katsuya's brain making too much of the crossed arms and frowned expression. He had to remind himself that that was what Kaiba always looked like, as opposed to the fact that even right now he was preparing to laugh loudly at what Katsuya would have to say.

"Wow. Is that Kaiba?" Yugi squeaked somewhere near his elbow.

"Yes." Katsuya said with no lack of resentment. "So let's just head back the other way and…"

"Jonouchi," Anzu said sternly, making the others eye her with slight shock; "We should go say hello."

He opened his mouth to protest, sure he couldn't face the task ahead of him no matter how long he had to prepare for it, but others were beating him to the mark.

"Oh yeah, we haven't seen them in ages!" Yugi said cheerily.

"Well, I doubt the older one's grown a better personality by now, but the younger one was okay." Otogi said off-handedly.

"How long has it been since we've seen them?" Honda wondered. Years, really.

"About four hours." Katsuya frowned.

Honda made to clonk him on the back of the head, "You know what I meant."

Anzu clapped her hands together loudly, as she suspected that at any minute the security guards might usher the men to a different location; "Right! Well, that's decided then, we should head over there right now!"

Although Yugi's was the only relatively enthusiastic response other than her own, the group began to make their way in the brothers' direction. Katsuya spent the entire walk throwing her looks so death-laden that he was sure he had managed to split the atoms between them.

A security guard noticed their presence first, and halted them. "You'll have to come back later for an autograph."

"Uh… we don't want an autograph." Yugi explained, "We just wanted to say hello."

At the sound of the familiar voice both Kaiba's turned around. Upon confirming their suspicions the elder blinked, for a split second with eyes wider than normal, but a moment later he had smoothed this over to be replaced with his naturally stoic demeanor. Mokuba smiled widely and pushed past the man in the black suit to get to Yugi.

"Yugi! It's great to see you!"

"Yeah you too!" Yugi smiled, happy that Mokuba was happy to see him. The raven haired young man then proceeded to greet everyone else too. Katsuya was welcomed with quite a bit of enthusiasm also, even though he had seen the younger brother more recently than the others.

Kaiba had, by this time, made his slow pace over to them. He merely nodded in greeting, acknowledging mainly Yugi, and not even sparing more than a glance at everyone else.

Katsuya refused to make eye contact, but this was an easy task as it seemed the CEO wasn't trying to make any.

Apparently Mokuba was speaking again, something about seeing some of the theme park with them. He seemed quite happy to be catching up.

Anzu was quite happy too, she wasted no time in accepting on everybody's behalf, and before he could blink they were already heading off to God Knows Where.

He stood, perplexed, and then Anzu's brown head filled his vision. "Ask him. You are _not_ not asking him. How many more chances like this are you going to get?" Then she turned before he could reply and caught up to where Yugi was walking with Mokuba, sliding easily into their conversation.

His eyes automatically searched for Kaiba, his mind, on the other hand, raced with panic. She was right of course, this was his opportunity and if he wasted it he might never forgive himself, and the slightest possibility of immediate employment would be gone forever. But still he did not want to ask for it back in front of all his friends who did not know he didn't have it anymore.

He spotted the taller man explaining the situation to the head of his security force. The listener nodded then signaled to the rest of the men in black jackets, turning away from Kaiba to give orders and show directions. This left a widening gap around the brunet where people were walking away down the path. The CEO turned to follow the others, but Katsuya knew this was his best shot.

"Wait." He said, feeling a strange sense of deja vu. He was surprised to see that Kaiba did it, and turned to face him as well. He said nothing however, but just stared stonily at him waiting for what he had to say.

Katsuya glanced to the side and saw that a group of young children had emerged and were pointing at Kaiba excitedly and putting their heads together – clearly making plans to either glomp him or ask for an autograph.

Which meant he had to move fast if he was to make any progress, and it wouldn't be too long before the others realized they both weren't still with them.

Katsuya looked up at the other man, it felt like it had been so long since he'd done that, and cleared his throat.

"I…" He started. But once again, when it came down to it he found he really had no idea what to say. He was still mad at Kaiba for firing him. So, since it was the only thing that was coming to mind right at that moment, that's what he said.

"You… shouldn't have just given Niita my job without telling me." He crossed his arms over his chest.

Kaiba raised an eyebrow, "Is that all you wanted to say to me?"

Damn bastard, didn't even sound remotely apologetic. But, like Anzu had said, this may likely be his only opportunity to ask. And he had to, no matter what the answer might be.

"No…" Slowly he lowered his arms and sighed, "But I did want you to know I'm still angry about that."

"Yes, and I'm sure you're still holding a grudge against the carpet that tripped you up when you were two."

Katsuya managed a half-hearted glare, and refused to allow himself to be amused by the comment. "In any case… I, uh… haven't got another job yet."

He wondered if Kaiba had any idea how hard it had been for him to say that, and to put so much emphasis on the unspoken implications that were associated with it.

"I see." The other man replied slowly, leveling him with a calculating look that made him want to run away.

There was a pause that might actually have been really short but that to Katsuya felt like an excruciatingly long hour, before Kaiba finally spoke again; "Well, I haven't hired anyone else yet, so I suppose the position is still open. But I'm not going to ask again. This is the last time."

He automatically went to reply: "But you haven't asked at all!" and then stopped, mouth half open, realizing what Kaiba had just said.

"Thanks." He said once his thoughts re-ordered themselves into something comprehensible.

"How strange… such a phrase coming from you."

Katsuya half-grinned, "Don't count on it happening ever again."

"Jou!" Someone yelled, who, upon further analysis, turned out to be Honda. He glanced over Kaiba's shoulder to see that the group had apparently finally noticed their absence and had decided to double back and find them.

Strolling up to them Honda continued, "Why're you back here man?"

By now the rest of the group had caught up and waited to hear the answer. Anzu was particularly interested.

"Uh, you know, just work shit." Katsuya gestured vaguely.

"He's not making you work more is he?" Honda asked, like the good concerned best friend who had never got along with his best friends boss very well either and was disposed to assume the worst of him and already considered Jou's working hours to be too long anyway since they clashed with the time they used to spend at the arcade.

"No he…" Katsuya started.

"Yes." Kaiba interrupted him smoothly, "I'm increasing his workload."

Everybody reacted with small cries of shock or annoyance. Anzu, on the other hand, beamed brightly at Katsuya who shot her a small, appreciative smile back before trying to quell the eruption of death threats that might have issued forth thereafter.

"Yeah yeah, he's a bastard. But just think, without his money, I'd never be able to randomly splurge at theme parks!" He indicated to the stalls and rides around them – the limitless possibilities to spend ones money.

"So what you're saying," Kaiba cut in before Honda or anyone else could reply, "Is that the money I pay you goes straight back into my company? It's nice to know I'm profiting even from my employees dull ingenuity."

Katsuya glared at him, but Mokuba was laughing and a moment later he nudged him kindly in the arm. "Don't listen to Nii-sama, come on, let's enjoy the amusement park! If you guys stick around long enough I'm sure you'll get your faces on the front covers of tomorrows newspapers along with us!"

Anzu gasped and reached up to touch her hair, possibly to confirm that it was still there. Yugi blushed brightly and turned his head downwards, fingering the chain around his neck. Otogi discreetly adjusted his headband. Honda looked a bit stunned. Ryou's cheeks darkened faintly and he mumbled, "Rather not…"

Mokuba was grinning from ear to ear, then turned to Katsuya who grinned back at him; "So, where would you like to go next?"

* * *

In reflection, Katsuya realized that it actually hadn't been as bad as he'd imagined it would be. It was less than a five minute conversation and he hadn't even used the word 'please'. He was, however, a little surprised that Kaiba had so readily accepted him back. Perhaps he really valued him as an employee? 

Actually, Katsuya figured, it was more likely that he was simply an easy target and this way the CEO wouldn't have to bother to take the time and effort to advertise and interview new candidates. Even if this was the case, he was grateful. Not perhaps to the 'kindness' and 'generosity' of Kaiba Seto, but to the man's apparent laziness in the face of finding a new and suitable person for an assistant.

He also figured that if he just kept putting in his best effort he'd be able to keep the job. The only thing that had him fired not long ago was his own rejection of the offer… well, that and Kaiba giving his job away to Niita. That was probably also an important factor.

But after all that conclusion he was able to decide that the only thing left to worry about was whether or not what had happened on the night of the party was ever going to happen again, and if it did, what the hell he was going to do about it. Since he believed the risk factor of a repeat performance was fairly low (Kaiba himself had told him it wouldn't happen again) then he felt he could relax. It was not a good enough reason to stop working there, whatever may have crossed his mind the first time when he had said no. Any job was better than no job, right? (Although fair enough prostitution would be taking it a little too far). Ever since he had started working for Shichi Corporation he had been taking each day as it came, and the immediate future would be no different. He would confront all those nameless feelings of his when and if the need ever arose to do so. During the meantime, he could relax with the fact that his financial future was slightly more secure once again.

* * *

A/N: Nice and conclusive this time for you, since I, like many of you out there I would imagine, have a certain love/hate relationship with cliffhanger endings. Anyway, I've actually been quite out of ideas lately. My inspiration pool has all dried up, _just like Australia's water sources!!! _Anyway, yes, still very busy and I'm still extremely sorry it's taking me so long to write and reply to your reviews (if you sign them), but keep reviewing!! Believe it or not, getting them does actually make me feel like writing more XD … The whole 'appreciative audience' thing helps. Also, I'm going to try to get the 'romance' side of the plot moving a bit more quickly forwards from now on. I feel like I'm back at the beginning with no real progress made. When or if I ever wrote a lengthy fan fiction again, I'll be sure to work out an _entire_ plot first, rather than an idea for a first chapter and not much else, since I assumed no one would ever read it. 


	12. Alcohol

Ch 12 (Alcohol)

Very Apologetic Author's Note: -massive sweat drop- I'm well aware that when author's take huge breaks like what I've done that many of their readers give up on them and don't want to come back to read anything new. This is fair enough, and quite understandable. And although it's probably not worth posting anymore, here is another chapter anyway. I want to give a huge thanks to Malik's Bunny Mika and Lionessmon for giving me a well-deserved kick in the pants and, more importantly, an undeserved reminder that there are actually people out there who want to keep reading. So thank you so much! I've been very uninspired to write but after reading your notes I suddenly felt the need to drop everything and start typing. And to everyone else who is reading this and who still is even slightly inclined to keep reading the rest of this chapter: thankyou, I really, really, appreciate it.

FURTHERMORE: And slightly as penance, I've written and posted a side story to this one which you are free to view or not view at your own leisure. It's set in between the last chapter and this one, but I won't go into too much detail here since you could simply read it yourself. Thanks again xoxo

Disclaimer: Characters, worlds, people, games, and everything else is owned by and copyrighted Kazuki Takahashi. This is a non-for-profit fan work with no particular personal gain in mind. I own the writing and nothing else.

* * *

Christmas came and went with all the subtlety of a foghorn in a library. Katsuya would swear that there must have been some sort of increased intake in sales personnel at all major shopping centres, because he found that leading up to the event he couldn't walk more than ten steps without someone urging him to buy hand cream, or a lawnmower, or get a satellite dish installed on his roof. None of which he was interested in of course; he didn't use hand cream, he didn't have a lawn, and he didn't own a roof. What Anzu couldn't quite explain to him (due to his unwillingness to listen) was that nowadays he looked _different_. 

Not in the downhill spiraling different sort of way, such as shaving ones head on a whim or choosing only to wear black clothes and gel ones fringe over ones forehead so that you can only see out of one eye and listening to nothing but music about death and the ultimately meaninglessness of existence over and over and over again. But in the good sort of way, the way that made you look smarter, richer, more in control of your own life. The kind of difference that makes an old high school friend you randomly meet at the convenience store stop and take a second look and say; "You are looking well," but actually _mean_ it.

In short, sales people approached Katsuya because he no longer looked like he had five yen to his name; he now looked like the kind of man who could afford a lawnmower, irrespective of the fact that most Japanese men and women did not live in houses big enough to accommodate actual lawns.

Katsuya meandered along more or less oblivious to all of this however, not one to think hard about his appearance in the morning, only long enough to confirm that the pants weren't on inside out and the shirt didn't have any distinguishable stains on the front. Somehow, though, he managed to pull off the nicer look. Otogi would say it had something to do with the fact that he now had his hair cut properly, and had thrown out all of his old daggy clothes and replaced them with ones that actually fit properly and looked modern and smart. Anzu, however, would say that while this was certainly a contributing factor, the larger proportion responsible for the overall difference was Jou's change in lifestyle. He seemed altogether happier, although he wouldn't have noticed it himself, and perhaps this was because life was finally dealing him a good hand. Things almost appeared to be falling into places that actually suited him.

But while all of this was more or less true, Katsuya was still awake at 2am staring up at his bedroom ceiling and re-living the past few weeks in a way similar to a scientist observing the progress of a bacteria culture. He reasoned that it was better to reminisce from the third person than to skip right to the end and start questioning himself. Again.

Christmas… Christmas had come and gone like a particularly _loud_foghorn in a library…

Oh, library…

No, wait, that wasn't far back enough. Sometime before the library, or at least… a room with lots of books in it. That more or less counted as a library. So sometime before that, he should think back, to whatever happened first…

* * *

Approximately two weeks prior…

* * *

"What is _that_?" 

"What?"

"_That!"_

"WHAT!?"

"That…_thing_… on my desk."

"Oh_that."_

Seto rolled his eyes.

"That's an electronic motion-sensored dancing Santa, which plays Christmas tunes when someone walks by." Katsuya remembered the description from the back of the box.

"Okay let me rephrase; why is _that_in my _office_?"

Katsuya took a few moments to search for the card that had come with the gift. Eventually he managed to retrieve it from underneath a coffee cup acting as a paperweight. He handed it to Kaiba without explanation.

Seto read the contents in seconds before throwing it into the bin beside his assistant's desk. "Cancel Niita's Christmas bonus."

"I am shocked and appalled that you do not like the novelty." Katsuya mocked with an obvious lack of sincerity.

"Well, appalled is close to the mark…" Seto muttered, glaring at the jolly figure in black boots with as much dislike as a fat man at a treadmill.

Katsuya sniggered and Seto's expression seemed dangerously close to a smile. "Don't set up any more gifts without my approval." He said with finality, and stepped swiftly into his office with the intent of finding a heavy object to dismantle Niita's present with.

Katsuya returned to work. Getting back into the old (and yet new) routine had not actually been that difficult. Sure, a backlog of untyped letters, unfilled paperwork, and unclean coffee cups had awaited him, but he had decided it didn't matter, because now he was earning money again and the amount of work associated with it was inconsequential. Plus, he'd damn well take his time with all of that, some sort of payback was definitely not unheard of. Kaiba still needed to understand that although he was infinitely grateful for the second chance, there was still a small part of him annoyed with the way in which the CEO had handled the first offer.

Which brought him to Kaiba himself. Katsuya wanted to imagine that the Lord Almighty was actually being just a bit nicer to him now, but the reality of the situation was probably not that. He figured. A tiny little voice in the back of his mind, which had been a lot louder hitherto, still pulled at his ear reminding him of the possibility of ulterior motives.

This was somewhat drowned out however by the presence of a different tiny voice on his other ear rejoicing at this fact and clapping loudly whenever his eyes accidentally strayed too far downwards while paying attention to what the business man had to say. And this was worrying in itself.

Sometimes he caught himself thinking back to that one snowy night and wondering what he would do if it happened again. Normally he managed to stop himself from finding an answer. Which he knew was just like placing a band aid on a gun shot wound and hoping for the best.

In the long run not very effective.

But it allowed for the opportunity to pretend to ignore the problem for just that little bit longer, and that was exactly what he intended to do.

* * *

There was a calendar on his desk which informed him of how many days there were left until Christmas. 

He hated that calendar. Another gift no doubt from someone he couldn't immediately identify and which his assistant had placed there with only the best of bad intentions.

Christmas was actually his company's most profitable time of year for obvious reasons; children wanted presents. They liked toys. Parents wanted children to like them. They bought toys.

It was a fairly straight forward cycle. But he felt that to be quite honest, this was the only thing Christmas had going for it. He had only ever had one person with which to share the holiday, and while he was in no way complaining about the presence of his beloved younger brother, the joy on Mokuba's face after receiving his gift lasted about a minute. Dinner lasted half an hour. Using the next entertainment system lasted about thirty minutes. So really, at best, Christmas was an hour long if that. And people spend _months_preparing for it…

What, exactly, was the point?

"Well, it's about spending time with your family and…"

"I know that."

"Well what don't you get then?" Katsuya frowned.

"Why there's so much bother… so much fuss…"

"What are you complaining about? Don't you rake in millions around this time?"

Ah, so as he suspected Jonouchi thought that money was all there was to him.

_I suppose that's not too far from the truth._

"I'm being philosophical here."

Katsuya stared. It was sort of like Kaiba announcing he was about to donate two billion yen to charity. The occurrence just seemed so out of character.

Seto frowned. "Yes Jonouchi, I _think._"

Katsuya decided to shrug it off. "People enjoy Christmas…"

"But the enjoyment only lasts about half an hour… if that…"

"Are we talking about Christmas or sex?"

"The first one. Being that it is independent from the second."

Katsuya smirked. "If you think Christmas only lasts half an hour, you're clearly spending it with the wrong person."

Seto glared. He did _not _want to go down that path.

"Why is there never any point in having a serious discussion with you?"

"Because you have no sense of humour."

"I have a perfectly decent sense of humour. It is simply too subtle for your comprehension."

"Subtle boarding on non-existent I'd have to say."

The downside to Katsuya's argument, however, was that he was smiling. Which indicated to Seto that he was amused, which furthermore certified, in his mind, his side of the argument. He decided to point this out.

However the minute Jou became aware of the fact that he was once again enjoying talking to Kaiba he turned bright red, and shortly thereafter excused himself.

_Curiouser and curiouser._

Seto drummed his pen on the table for a moment and glanced again at the calendar. Eleven days until Christmas. Oh will the nightmare not cease? But perhaps there was something to what Jonouchi had said, even if he had meant it in a much cruder way. Perhaps he was just spending Christmas with the wrong person? Not Mokuba of course, but himself. Maybe because he spent every Christmas in relative solitude that he did not fully comprehend why everyone else made such a big deal about it? If there were others around would it be more enjoyable?

He began plotting how to find out.

* * *

"Why is nothing happening?" 

Honda elbowed him, "Shut up Jou, he just hasn't turned them on yet."

Ryou went a pale shade of scarlet, "Actually, they are on, I don't know why none of them are lighting up…"

"Did you test them before you put them up?" Anzu enquired politely. Ryou nodded.

Yugi gazed up at the colourless roof, "Is it set up like a series circuit?"

"Speak Japanese." Bakura barked, standing behind Ryou with his arms crossed in frustration.

Yugi blushed slightly, "Uh… I meant like, how some lights are set up in sequence, so if one bulb breaks none of them will work. Or if one blows half way along, all the ones from that one to the end wont light up, because the signal is interrupted."

Before Bakura could say something rude in return because he still didn't understand, Ryou said; "Oh I see. Well, I'm not sure if it's like that, but they were all working before I put them up there…"

"Wait… I think I see your problem." Honda squinted in the quickly failing light, "The extension chord looks like it's come out."

Ryou took a moment to find where he was pointing to, "Oh! That's the bit that connects the lights to the lead and the converter. Yeah, I must have pulled it out when I was coming down the ladder. I'll have to go back up and fix it. Sorry guys."

He sprinted over to the house and turned off the main power switch, then grabbed the ladder and planted it firmly into the ground, swinging the top end forwards until it hit the guttering. Ryou placed one foot experimentally on the bottom rung.

Like most other people, Bakura could practically _feel_ it when someone was glaring at him. "What!?"

Anzu frowned, "Shouldn't you be helping him? This _is_your house too!"

Bakura crossed his arms in a disinterested fashion, "Na, I'm good here."

Steam practically flaring from her nostrils, Anzu marched over to the ladder making as much noise as possible and took a firm hold of it to keep it in place. Ryou smiled appreciatively and started his ascent.

Nearing the top his shoe slipped dangerously for a moment before he regained his footing. It might have been a trick of the light, but Katsuya could have sworn he caught Bakura flinching out of the corner of his eye.

"Just to let you know; if you die, I can't reincarnate you. At all." Everyone was used to Yami appearing at random to add his insight.

"Thank you Pharaoh, please go away." Bakura said dryly. Yami ignored him.

"I'm okay!" Ryou called back in an obvious attempt to reassure the crowd. Yugi's other frowned disbelievingly.

They now watched in very anxious silence.

Ryou was perched on the second to top rung and reached his arm to its fullest extent to grab hold of the chords. Tugging twice they obliged him by sliding closer along the roof tiles. It was a simple matter of reconnecting the extension chord and then he called back over his shoulder; "Does someone want to turn the power back on please?"

Honda strode over to the switch and flicked it. Hundreds of lights blinked into existence. As Ryou stepped back down the ladder, everyone took a moment to admire them.

They were all colours; red, green, blue, purple, yellow, silver, gold, orange, pink… Some flashed and some raced each other down the lines, some didn't move but spelled out words like "Merry Christmas" and "Santa Parks Here". They were all over the roof and along the gutters, spiraling around the pillars and across the porch. There were even some on the plants in the garden, and circling up around the mailbox.

"You've done a really nice job Ryou." Katsuya nodded his approval.

Everyone else seemed to think so too, even Bakura grunted his agreement. Ryou glowed.

"Well, this is all very pretty, but I'm freezing." Bakura trudged back inside, and although the others would have perhaps phrased it slightly more pleasantly, they couldn't disagree. Lights weren't the only white thing decorating the house.

They slowly filed back inside following the spirit, right up until Katsuya realized that she'd managed to catch him again.

Grabbing his arm Anzu halted him. "Doesn't it look just beautiful?" She said, slightly louder than was perhaps necessary.

Jou looked at her like she'd just been talking about a walrus as opposed to the Christmas decorations; "Yes. I think we just established that."

Ignoring the last few sentences completely she watched the last person go into the house then turned back to Katsuya, "So, how's it going, being back at work?"

He mentally hit himself over the head with a giant hammer. "It's good. Let's go inside."

She didn't let go of his arm. "It's good? That's it?"

He sighed, "What else is there to tell you Anzu? The office is big, the view is nice, and the toilet cleaner smells like lemons."

"I don't know, I just thought you might have something more to report about, you know, Kaiba…"

"His ego is big, his lounge chairs are ugly, and he smells like expensive aftershave and coffee."

"You know what he smells like?"

Katsuya instantly turned scarlet. "I… uh…"

Anzu seemed to think she'd made some sort of ground here, because she let go of his arm. Smirking, she continued; "I see. You know, it is kind of cold, perhaps we _should_head inside."

He didn't trust himself to speak again just yet, so he merely nodded and followed her in, shutting the door behind them on the whole conversation.

* * *

Meanwhile, across town, in the deep dark depths of the Kaiba mansion, amongst the deep rows of dark books housing information too dark and verses too deep to even consider, Kaiba was darkly thinking deep thoughts. 

Which were in fact surprisingly bright.

Christmas was coming, faster than expected, and it had been such a thoughtful year that he couldn't possibly _not_put thought to the next holiday in line. In a typically exploratory fashion he felt the intense need to understand the fuss of Christmas. One should make note, however, of the distinct dissimilarities between Seto and the famous Mr. Scrooge. While Seto had never been interested in Christmas before, this was only because he was ignorant of the true spirit of Christmas. Whereas Scrooge knew quite well of the true spirit of Christmas, he just chose to be moody about it.

"What's on your mind Nii-sama?" Mokuba's bushy black head popped into view.

Seto flipped the paper closed and placed it on the coffee table, and his younger sibling took it as a well known sign to take a seat and commence a discussion.

"I've been thinking…"

He knew it. "Yes?"

"When was the last time we had a Christmas party?"

"Two years ago when you invited a new round of investors over for a dinner. It was boring."

"Ah yes… I remember."

"Why do you ask?"

Seto wasn't sure what kind of lie would be appropriate, so he opted for the truth; "I am feeling a bit festive this year, I'm thinking of throwing another party."

Mokuba groaned, "Oh please, not investors again, all they do is discuss the stock market and the price of shares."

"No, not one of those kinds of Christmas parties. One with friends."

Seto's younger brother paused, "Say again?"

"What do people normally do? Have dinner? Drink wine?"

Mokuba beamed, "You're serious Nii-sama!? You want to have a real party?"

Seto waved a hand, "Stop acting like it's completely unheard of."

"Well that's only because it's completely…"

"I get it. Ah, perhaps it is a stupid idea after all…"

"No!" Seto smirked inwardly, reverse psychology was uncannily effective against the youngest Kaiba. "It's a great idea! Let's hold one!"

"Alright then."

"I'll even help you plan it!"

"Thank you."

"So who are we inviting?"

A list was prepared. Only friends, Mokuba had made sure, were to be given invitations. Seto actually surprised himself when he input a few names of his own. He apparently had more friends than he had known he did. Mokuba, of course, had more contacts to add than himself, but he wasn't fazed by this. In fact he was proud of the way Mokuba had adapted back into regular school life. Not racing off to card game tournaments every two weeks, or being attacked by the spirit of the Ancient Egyptian Fruit Bowl, or whatever other stone age deity felt like threatening their life over something as insubstantial as a piece of paper with pretty pictures on it, had had somewhat of a positive effect on his social life.

But to be honest in previous years he might not have said quite the same thing. There was a point at which he had been quite willing to risk his life for such items as playing cards as well.

Which brought him back to the list. They contemplated for a few minutes whether to include Yugi and pals in the invitations. Finally, Mokuba argued, they were technically friends too, and once, great friends; they deserved to be given the opportunity to attend if they wished to.

A curious feeling came over Seto when he thought about Jou being in his own house, and even though it had happened before, recent events caused him to look at the situation differently.

It would be fine, he argued, the man was hardly likely to even come. Plus, he was sure he would be able to discover what the Christmas fuss was about even without his personal assistants help.

So with mounting enthusiasm from his younger brother, they finalized the preliminary plans, and Seto began to look forward to the occasion with much interest.

* * *

You could get lost in snow. And not just in the kind of: "it was so cold and thick and hard to see in that people literally lost their sense of direction whilst walking through it" way, but the kind of "it was mesmerizingly white" sort of way. Like autumn leaves in a park, you could sit and simply watch it fall over and over again. Although it was perhaps more of an indoor activity than leaf watching, and better accompanied by a warm fire and cup of hot tea. 

Seto had neither hot tea nor warm fires. He had freshly brewed coffee with no sugar, and considerably expensive central heating, but the snow falling outside his window was as white as the snow falling outside some picturesque cottage in the middle of the English countryside. For the first time in his life, he thought it was nice.

Three times today Jou had been inside his office and he'd completely forgotten to mention about the party and to hand over the invitation. Mokuba had instructed him to do this, rather than mail it like the rest of them, insisting it was a waste of a postage stamp, despite their family's obvious wealth which to Seto rendered the expenditure on such an item relatively insignificant. It was now simply a matter of him actually remembering to do it.

"Last January's expense figures." Jonouchi slapped three reports onto his desk.

Seto muttered a 'thanks', not really looking up from the notes he was making on some paperwork.

Katsuya shrugged, used to the routine, and turned to leave.

"Oh right, the invitation…"

"What?"

"Where did I put it…"

Jou wasn't entirely sure if Kaiba was actually talking to him or not, since he had disappeared into a desk drawer. He decided he wasn't and continued to back up slowly towards the door.

"Here it is!" Seto emerged triumphantly, then frowned; "Get back here."

"Uh…"

The CEO waved the envelope towards his assistant in a sort of 'come and take it' fashion. To Katsuya he looked more like a Venus fly trap. He approached with caution.

"What is this?"

"An invitation."

"To…" Death?

"To a Christmas party I'm having."

Katsuya raised an eyebrow. "You're inviting me?"

"I'm inviting you and all of those people you associate with."

He frowned, "They have _names_."

"And I'm sure Mokuba wrote them on their invitations. It's lucky; I would have addressed them to vague physical descriptions."

He continued frowning.

"Oh just take the bloody thing."

Katsuya reached out slowly and took the envelope into his hands. He read the enclosed message in silence.

"Not to repeat myself or anything but, why're you inviting me?"

"It was Mokuba's insistence…" Seto lied smoothly, knowing that he had had just as much input in the matter. No one would question it anyway.

"Oh." It might have been his imagination, but could he detect just the slightest hint of disappointment in Jonouchi's voice?

Knowing that wasn't possible he pressed on, "It's the weekend before Christmas, we're not expecting everyone to attend of course."

"In other words, you don't expect me to come?"

Seto feigned indifference.

Katsuya glared, "Well don't invite someone if you don't want them to come!" Then he marched out rather huffily.

_He is such a woman. _Seto mused, staring perplexedly at the door.

* * *

"Just because someone invites you to something doesn't mean you have to_go." _Katsuya insisted for perhaps the ninth time. 

The others had given up arguing with him.

"I'm actually quite excited." Anzu revealed to Yugi as she strode along briskly next to him, traveling at a fast pace to relieve some of the cold.

He laughed, "Yeah, me too… sort of… it'll be interesting to see what a 'party' of Kaiba's turns out like."

Katsuya suddenly remembered with vivid intensity what the last party of Kaiba's had been like. Would the same thing happen again? Would he be annoyed if it did?

"He'll probably turn into a green monster and start stealing everyone's presents." Otogi suggested idly.

"Speaking of which, will he care too much we didn't all get him one?" Honda asked in a way that suggested _he_certainly wouldn't care if Kaiba did or not.

"I told you, I'm going to say my present is from all of us." Yugi said cheerily.

Katsuya would rather have preferred he didn't, but once Yugi set his mind on something it would take more than a heard of rampaging elephants running straight towards him to make him change course.

_Should_he have gotten Kaiba a present? You know, colleague to colleague? Did people normally do that sort of thing? Or was it the bosses job to give his employees presents, not the other way around? And whatever happened to that mysterious rumour of a Christmas bonus…

"Jou!"

"Ow!"

"God you day dream a lot lately," Honda rolled his eyes. Katsuya rubbed his forehead where he'd just walked straight into a street lamp.

Mumbling profanities he suddenly realized everyone else had stopped walking too, they must have finally arrived.

He stared up at Kaiba's mansion apprehensively. Inside was a party he currently didn't want to attend. What if other people from work were there? What if he got drunk and made an ass of himself?

Well, he supposed, the obvious solution would be to _not_drink then… Yes, that was a good resolution.

In the darkness of evening it was hard to see the roof of the house. Light radiated from a few of the windows, but further out the rest of the concrete became a blur of faint colour, gutterings and window sills leading into who knew how many rooms exactly. Why did he even_need _a house that big!?

Honda whistled. "Man, I'd like to be that rich someday."

Otogi smirked, "Well, if one day you develop the brains needed to become one of us booming business owners, maybe you will." He then had to duck a swipe of Honda's arm aimed at his head.

"It's getting colder, how about we go inside?" Ryou suggested with all the politeness he could muster, considering his fingers felt like they were about to fall off.

A tall man in a black jacket and white shirt greeted them at the door, he surveyed the group for a moment before nodding and bowing them in. They all bowed politely back as they crossed over into the house.

It was ablaze with Christmas decorations that Katsuya was sure Kaiba could not have picked himself. Since none of them really seemed like his taste. They passed at least three Christmas trees on the way to the room the party was being held in. There were tinsel and ornaments hanging practically everywhere, and little tree lights replacing the ones he supposed would normally have been used in the rooms.

_I had no idea he was so into Christmas._

It looked like the others were thinking similar thoughts, as they stared around the house with a mixture of shock and approval. For the effect was, really, very nice. There was even holly hanging from the odd nook and cranny, and something else that might have been… He wasn't entirely sure what mistletoe looked like, but he made a mental note to avoid whatever plant that was anyway.

It was hard to get lost. The way to the party was the only really well lit destination in the house at the moment, so with relative ease they found the rest of the attendees.

"You know I'm not quite sure if this is bigger or smaller than I thought it would be." Honda admitted aloud.

"Friends only!" Announced a cheery voice.

Anzu greeted Mokuba with a Christmas hug. He grinned around at the new guests, "I insisted this not be one of Nii-sama's boring parties with investors where everyone talks and looks like they've got a stick up their arse."

They laughed and as Katsuya looked over the room he found that, indeed, not many of the party goers fit that description.

"So this time only people we actually _like_," Mokuba continued, and something inside of Katsuya tightened just a little; "Hopefully Nii-sama will be able to enjoy himself too."

Anzu smiled, "I'm sure he will."

He steadfastly refused to comment. Not that anyone was paying too much attention to him anyway. He followed along while Mokuba led them to where a few waiters were standing around with drinks and finger food.

He let his mind wander. This was Kaiba's party, so where _was_ the CEO anyway? The room was filled with people he'd never seen before. Oh wait, wasn't that that Chinese woman from accounting? Okay, one person he knew. Or sort of knew. He hoped she also couldn't remember his name. Might be better simply to avoid her.

There were a lot of younger people he took to be Mokuba's friends as opposed to Kaiba's, but there were still the fair share of older people too. Many of them looked about university age, some a little older, one who was old enough (and loud enough) to have passed for a jovial uncle.

He was beginning to think that Kaiba must simply have decided not to attend his own party, when he finally came into view. He was standing amongst a group of young men and one woman about his age, all of whom looked like they were laughing about some undoubtedly private joke. Was Kaiba actually _laughing_?

Katsuya felt a curious need to shake his head in disbelief and take a second look. Also curious was the odd twinge of jealousy that suddenly fired up inside of him. He couldn't quite explain it, but before he had a chance to analyze the feeling it had passed. Well, the CEO had been spotted, mission accomplished, he could go back to ignoring him and forgetting he even existed.

Thank God.

"What do you want to drink?" Yugi asked next to him.

"Um, nothing."

Otogi stared at him like he'd just announced his engagement to Bakura. "What?"

"You always drink." Yugi stated.

Wow, he didn't realize how much scrutiny he would be getting for this; "Oh, uh, I will, just in a bit."

Although a somewhat lame answer it seemed to satisfy them, although he couldn't help but feel slightly left out being now the only one not holding a glass of something cold and bubbling.

Mokuba then excused himself and went to play host to a different part of the room. As somewhat of a prerequisite, comments were made about the niceness of the party and nods of approval at how short the skirts were this year. Ideas were thrown around concerning the availability of some of both the female and male (in Anzu's case) party guests and Ryou pointed out that it wasn't cheap champagne. There were more nods of approval.

Finally Yugi said, "Can anyone see Kaiba? This present is getting kind of heavy…"

"Why didn't you just give it to Mokuba earlier?" Katsuya asked; they were doing such a good job of avoiding his boss, he didn't see any real need to rectify this.

"I forgot," He admitted, going a little red. Katsuya rolled his eyes.

"I think that's him over there…" Anzu said, squinting and sticking her nose as far forwards as her neck would allow without actually having to move the rest of her body along with it.

"That's a woman." Otogi corrected without obvious interest, taking a sip of his drink.

"Oh."

"I think he's actually over _there_," Ryou pointed on the other side of the room. He was right; Kaiba was, just at that moment, extricating himself from another group of individuals Katsuya had never seen before and moving in what looked like the direction of the door.

Yugi thought it was best to interrupt him. He led them on a brisk stride through crowds of chatting people, some of whom already looked like they'd had too much to drink, and some of whom were demonstrating their absolute lack of coordination by dancing to the music and trying to eat at the same time.

"Kaiba!" Yugi called, and the CEO stopped and turned.

Katsuya stared, he'd obviously been too far away before to notice but the brunet looked really quite good that night. Kaiba was wearing a suit he'd never seen before, which surprised him because he saw him in suit's everyday, and he had hitherto been led to believe that he'd seen the lot. In any case, this one seemed to be tailored to fit him perfectly. It was double breasted and black, and had a near unnoticeable pinstripe to it. It further occurred to him that he'd never seen Kaiba (in recent months) with an open collared shirt, but he was reminded tonight that it looked even more fetching on him.

The combined effect would have been enough to make him start drooling, had it not been for the novelty Christmas hat someone (with either a lot of guts or a death wish) had decided to stick on the CEO's head.

Honda sniggered, "Nice hat Kaiba."

"Watch that I don't just make them mandatory for _every_ party guest." Katsuya noted that he didn't seem to have as much ridicule in the warning as usual. He wanted to ask whether the other man was feeling well tonight.

Yugi threw Honda a 'don't upset people' look then turned back to Kaiba, "Thanks very much for inviting us to your Christmas party Kaiba!" He smiled widely to encourage the statement.

Kaiba waved a hand dismissively, indicating it was nothing. "It was Mokuba's idea mostly." He commented off-handedly.

This didn't seem to deter Yugi one bit, "None the less, thank you. Here, we got you a present… from _all_ of us," He emphasized the last part especially, just in case the matter was brought into question.

Katsuya thought that Kaiba was probably smart enough to doubt it, but not mention anything.

"Thanks," He took the offered present, which looked suspiciously wine-shaped, and gave Yugi a small nod.

"It's a nice party," Anzu said encouragingly, just in case the CEO had been, just at that moment, thinking otherwise.

Kaiba nodded in agreement, although didn't seem very interested. He had never really been one for small talk.

Sensing a silence coming on, Otogi quickly announced a search for more food, dragging Honda and Ryou along behind him.

"You'll have to excuse them," Katsuya indicated to the way Otogi was_literally _dragging both men by the top of their shirts; "they were never rich enough to afford tow trucks as children."

Anzu noticed Kaiba was hiding his amusement at the comment. She also noticed that his eyes would flick to herself and Yugi for instants but then always come back to land on and look at Jonouchi. She wondered if Jou had ever noticed this too.

"Kaiba Corp.'s been in the paper a lot recently. Grandpa always makes sure he points it out to me in the morning." Yugi managed to add an unspoken, 'whether I like it or not'.

"I suppose we've been busy." Kaiba conceded.

"Well that's good; at least Jou'll never be bored." Anzu grinned and clapped him on the back mockingly. He shot her a glare.

"I'm sure I can always find something that will amuse him." The CEO agreed in, what seemed to Katsuya's prejudiced ears, a somewhat suggestive manner.

His stomach began to sink, he didn't like where this was going. Better to knock it on the head before it carried on any longer. Hell, a_minute _was too long a conversation between either Anzu or Kaiba. It was like somehow, over the past few months, they'd become both his least and most favourite two people to talk to. It was an odd situation to have arisen.

He coughed loudly to express his displeasure; unfortunately this didn't seem to have any effect.

Anzu, on the other hand, felt like she was making headway here and she needed to press on; "Wow, you know come to think of it, you and Jou must spend quite a lot of time together nowadays…"

_Like that had only just occurred to you… _Katsuya thought with annoyance.

"Well, I didn't see any reason to dismiss his application once he showed an aptitude for the job. Past arrangements aside, one would have hoped maturity had set in by now." Said Kaiba, answering the rest of her unspoken question.

She nodded in agreement. Yugi looked like he thought he was missing something.

"Well, we're certainly all glad it has," Anzu laughed, glancing at Jou once again; "He's not _that_hard to get along with, is he?"

But Katsuya had had enough, he didn't care what the answer was, he knew that all she was doing was squeezing information from Kaiba about his own personal life and, well, that just wasn't fair.

"He is…" Kaiba started.

"Look," Katsuya interrupted, unaware that he was starting to go red; "isn't this supposed to be a party? Do we _have_ to talk about work? Let's... ah… discuss the weather instead. Mighty chilly today don't you think?"

Both Anzu and Kaiba were looking at him like he'd just stuck his finger up his nose in a rather unimpressive attempt at drawing attention to himself.

Kaiba recovered first, "Well, as you say, this is a party, and there are many guests here who will soon become disheartened if I don't go and tell the kitchen staff to start bringing in more alcohol. So if you'll excuse me…"

He turned and made his way through the crowd, carrying Yugi's gift under one arm. The midget in question gave a half-hearted wave goodbye. "Shall we go and find the others?" He suggested.

Katsuya would personally have preferred to have gone and died in a hole somewhere.

Anzu smiled, "Well that was interesting."

He turned to her with a look mixed with misery and the beginnings of anger, but was unable to conjure up anything to say.

Screw his resolution, he needed a drink.

* * *

Two glasses of champagne and three cups of punch within an hour later, Katsuya was at the point where he felt the need to tell the chairs not to move around so much. Especially while he was still sitting on them; it was just plain rude. 

A short while ago he and Anzu had come to a (quiet and out of the way) head about her interference in his personal life, and upon his dire threat of breaking every imported English Soapie DVD she owned she had agreed to stop asking questions where they did not warrant asking. He found he couldn't stay mad at her for too long, since he'd managed to avoid any sort of contact with Kaiba for the rest of the night anyway. That and, she _was_ one of his best friends, and so far seemed only to have his interests at heart. He thought that if it wasn't for her encouragement he probably would be cleaning dishes in a shabby restaurant for 5000 yen and hour right now. He tried to make a mental note to properly thank her sometime.

Following their conversation she had gone off to introduce herself to one of the other male party guests who Katsuya would have agreed was really quite attractive if it hadn't been for the fact that he most certainly was not into looking at men. Next to him Honda and Otogi and a few girls of various ages had begun to play a drinking game involving tequila shots. The girls were also quite attractive, but Katsuya found that they seemed to share a brain smaller than a woodpecker's collectively between them, and he found his attraction could, therefore, only reach so far. The game would have been more fun to watch had Honda not kept throwing salt at him every thirty seconds because he was, at that point, refusing to join in. He felt it was rather a small sacrifice.

Over on the other side of the room, Seto was sipping a glass of something expensive and imported. He actually quite enjoyed a glass or two of whatever was in his cellar, but he knew when to stop, or if it was a night like this, knew how to make one glass last longer than necessary. Besides, he thought as host it was probably unprofessional to be drunk at his own party. He might find he was cleaning up his own vomit in the morning.

And by himself cleaning up he naturally meant the closest member of his hired staff he could find.

He was still in a state of quiet shock at how many of the people he had invited had shown an interest in coming. Mokuba had sat him down and practically nailed him to the chair until he came up with a list of every single person who he'd even _remotely_considered a friend, over the entire course of his life, and had insisted they invite each and every one of them. So, as it turned out, many people he hadn't seen since before even his biological parents' deaths had turned up.

He found he was pleasantly surprised. It was an unexpectedly nice feeling to know that there were still some people out there that also considered you a friend and wanted to see you again, in most cases regardless of the fact that you had money now. This was perhaps one of the most astonishing factors – people actually seemed _genuinely interested_ in himself, rather than his company or his millions of dollars.

This was something he was very unused to.

And with a no small amount of shocked realization, it occurred to him that this might have been what the whole holiday was about. That oddly warm feeling inside of him that his friends and family gave him simply by _being there_and _giving a shit. _

How remarkable.

Well, he'd solved the riddle of Christmas. Nice work.

Everyone seemed to be having a good time. He supposed he shouldn't really care too much, after all, he was a firm believer in the idea that other people could only take you so far, you had to walk the rest of the way yourself. He'd set up (or at least hired people to set up) the party as best he could, there was enough food and drink to go around, and people seemed to be mingling. So he supposed that constituted a good time.

He looked down at his watch; another little while and he'd need to go take a breather.

* * *

At a certain point in any party's evening, usually after you've been blackmailed into taking several shots of tequila, everything becomes funny, and even the most insane things seem like a brilliant idea. 

That person tripping over the rug and spilling his drink all over that girl's skirt; that was funny. That waiter, with one shoe lace undone; that was funny. The fact that Honda could not pick up tonight; that was funny. The fact that outside Yugi was having to pull Ryou's hair back as he made a mess of the concrete; that was funny.

Katsuya suddenly announced that he was bored. Honda was slouched gloomily back into the sofa next to him and gave no more than a murmur to show that he'd heard.

"This party is boring," He continued, in loud tones reminiscent of an army general about to announce his squadron's departure into battle; "I am going to go exploring."

Honda made another murmuring sound and waved goodbye with two fingers. Not one to be deterred Katsuya stood up, waited for his eye balls to stop spinning, and then marched off to find the door. He bumped into four different people but eventually made it out.

Picking a direction at random he made his way along dimly lit corridors and past closed doors until finally the open night air was revealed. Kaiba had quite a large yard. Outdoor lights were lit all over the place, and many people, he found, had migrated out into the shrubbery already. He had an inkling those people didn't really want to be interrupted.

"There, there." Katsuya noticed a figure hunched over against the wall and another one patting its back sympathetically. He found this amusing.

In the dark Yugi's hair almost looked like it could pass for only one colour, and he frowned at the blond; "Be nice."

"I don't even know what was in that…" Ryou muttered before suddenly bracing himself against the wall again and making sick noises.

Well, Yugi seemed to have that pretty much covered, and he didn't really feel like investigating the back yard at present, so Katsuya trotted back into the house. Past the music from the party, and veering off from the decorated corridor he found himself in a rather less Christmasy part of the mansion. He strolled along at an easy pace, not bothering to keep quiet. He found himself torn between feeling annoyed he hadn't brought along something to sip on, and reminding himself he had probably already had enough.

Besides, he couldn't be sure that painting didn't just wink at him.

He fumbled past a few interesting looking doors to find rooms that weren't as interesting inside. He felt it was probably unnecessary to have so many sitting rooms, but then again, who was he to question the rich? He didn't quite know what he was looking for exactly. He kind of hoped he didn't come across anything as compromising as Kaiba's bedroom, then he'd really be in shit. He thought he'd discovered at least two guest bedrooms though, as they didn't look very lived-in. He also passed some bathrooms and some small closets with cleaning supplies in them.

He was starting to become almost as bored as he had been sitting at the party, the novelty of trespassing through the rest of the house wearing off after having discovered it was just like a normal house, only bigger. The next room, however, he felt compelled to enter.

Turning the light on, he realized this room was unlike any of the others he'd looked into. Not just because on one wall there was a giant television surrounded by DVDs and video games, which instantly grabbed his attention, but because there was some sort of aura about the room which made it more cozy than each of the others. His feet carrying him automatically forwards, he just had to take a closer look.

It certainly had the appearance of a study. There was a desk and a chair behind it, but there was also a couch (which looked surprisingly comfortable), and he was pretty sure in normal study's people wouldn't keep a digital television so close to the desk as it would serve as too big a distraction.

But there were books, hundreds of books. The walls were lined with them and the bookcases reached almost to the ceiling. There was a library of knowledge here, and he walked slowly around the room, scanning over the spines and letting his fingers brush across them like they were something amazing he couldn't stop himself from touching. He was expecting books about economics, or about financial management or world domination. However these books seemed like they must have belonged to a completely different family. There were novels (he had no idea Kaiba even possessed an imagination), with all different sorts of genres, there were books about fishing and travel and books about how to speak various different languages. There were art books from video games and animated movies, there were biographies of actors from eighty years ago, and books about different types of aircrafts. He passed shelves of history books, and noticed an atlas open on the table. Was one of the Kaiba brothers planning a trip to America?

Another section caught his eye, the spines of these books didn't have any writing on them and, like an unopened present, he just had to know what was inside. Pulling out one of them he realized that he had in fact come across a few small photo albums. Inside were various pictures of places he had never seen before. One was of a much smaller house, and another one looked like it might have been the orphanage Mokuba and Kaiba grew up in. He couldn't stop a small smile from forming as he discovered yet another older picture of the two of them at the beach – Mokuba must have been no older than two – looking down at the sand with intense interest at where a large dried out star fish was resting. Katsuya wondered who had taken the picture.

He realized he must have been sobering up even a little, because it only took him three tries to replace the book on to the shelf. It was a bit hard to muster up the amount of concentration required for such a task. He noticed that a little way along the shelf was another unmarked book, this time the binder was a set of rings wound into heavy paper. It looked like it might have been a sketch book.

With unfaltering curiosity and an alcohol-induced lack of respect for privacy, Katsuya pulled it out and flicked through a few pages. He had been right, it was a sketch book, and further observations would have dated it back to a long time ago. Stick figures in bright coloured pencil lined the pages. One of them had a misspelled 'beach' as a heading, and the larger stick figure had what looked like a bucket and spade attached to its right arm. Over the page was a three year olds idea of what a car looked like, and some purple clouds in the sky. More curious again was on the next page where someone, obviously much older than three, had drawn a very stunning picture of a bird on a branch, perhaps from observation, and then next to it the three year old artist had tried to copy it.

"What are you doing?"

Katsuya almost dropped the sketch book. His heart recovered from shock and he grasped the book tightly in one hand as if it was still about to fall. He turned slowly.

"Um…?" He looked from the book he was holding back up. _It's always him, wherever I go._

"Put that down," Seto warned.

Katsuya reluctantly placed it on the desk. He felt like he'd just been on the verge of discovering some ground-breaking secret such as the location of buried treasure, or the revelation that Kaiba was actually a human being after all and not, in fact, descended from robots. But alas, he had been denied at the last moment.

He looked back up, not wanting to say anything first. He felt suddenly quite guilty.

"Well?" The CEO demanded.

Katsuya couldn't really think of an excuse, 'I was looking for the bathroom' didn't exactly explain why he'd taken it upon himself to look inside the book shelf for it. "I, uh…" He faltered.

"I go to put away my coat, I turn around, and a light is on. I think: why is Mokuba in here when he should be at the party? But then, of course, I find it's you. Little pup just has to stick its nose into everything."

Which also would explain why Kaiba wasn't wearing his jacket anymore.

"I'm sorry." Katsuya hung his head, not unlike the mentioned puppy dog, having just been yelled at for jumping up on the table.

Seto glared, but the blond head missed it. He walked over to where the other was standing and picked up the sketch book. He hadn't looked at this in years. It was one of those things you knew in the back of your mind that you owned, but never really paid attention to.

Katsuya watched Kaiba's eyes widen as memories came back to him through the pages of the book.

"Did you draw those?"

Seto shook his head. It was quiet again for a while.

"You have some nice photos." Katsuya said when the silence got too pressing.

Kaiba's eye twitched, "You looked at those _too_!?"

Oops. "Ah…"

Seto put the book down again so he could glare at him properly. Jou was looking thoroughly guilty. He realized he thought that was cute. Then he also realized how close they'd managed to get, proximity wise.

_It's like he's some sort of human-shaped magnet. _What else could explain why he always ended up near the nosey assistant?

Unbidden came a flash back to that snowy night when he'd thrown all sense out the window and kissed Jou on the whim. He had the greatest desire to repeat the occasion.

Above that, though, he remembered the promise he made afterwards. The promise to never do something like that again. It was stupid, why should he even want to?

But he did.

But he'd promised not to.

It had taken weeks for trust to re-build between them, and he knew that he didn't want to throw that away, probably never to be reclaimed, simply because he gave in to the instructions of a part of his body that was definitely not his brain.

Perhaps if he just… stopped looking so adorable…

That night he had caught up with people he had not seen in years. Many of them were not the same as he remembered, but others hadn't changed one bit. One person in particular suddenly flashed back to his mind. A boy from the orphanage, who had always high spirits despite the dreary life they lead, and whose optimism could have contended Yugi's. Tonight he had been asking the person next to him what they would do if they discovered they only had one day left to live. The person had rambled off many things including seeing as much of the world as possible, buying all the things they'd always been too cautious to buy before, and most importantly, making sure all of their loved ones knew where they stood.

Seto wasn't saying he loved Jou. Heck, he wasn't sure _what_he felt towards the man, he just knew that if this was his last day on earth, and for some reason he had ended up in his study with Jonouchi there too, in the same places, he probably wouldn't be hesitating right now.

So why should today really be any different?

It is also important right now that we re-visit the analogy of the scales used a little while back, for it is important we have another look. First of all, to solve the puzzle one must work out which distribution of weight was correct to make the scales level enough so that one can have a chance at jumping from them to the next platform and continue onwards. Seto and Katsuya's relationship was like this, although it seemed like every time they got the scales level they would miss the jump and fall down to the bottom and have to start all over again.

Furthermore, however, once one has solved the problem of the distribution of weight, the puzzle is complete. One could, in all rightness, be happy with this and sit down, take a breather, maybe clean your sword… and simply do nothing more. You have completed the puzzle, you are in the balanced place. The world is perfect and uninterrupted, you don't_need _to try to jump to the next platform. Especially since in all likelihood you are about to fall two stories down and have to solve the entire puzzle once again.

The problem with not jumping though is the same as the reward for completing the puzzle. You are in a balanced place, so long as you do not wish to change that. Figuring it out _enables_ you to move forward, but you actually have to jump to get there. Not jumping halts progress, stops you from getting anywhere. It does keep you in an easy place, a balanced place, a place where life is fine. But you're never going to be able to beat the dungeon boss by simply sitting on a scale and not attempting to leap to the next platform.

Life is a risk. Moving forward is a risk. Jumping is a risk. But staying on the scale will get you nowhere. If you jump, you might fall, but you can walk right back up to the top and try again. _That_was the point of the puzzle.

And when he thought of it that way, he found he had the courage to move just a bit closer to the edge.

* * *

Katsuya had been so preoccupied with feeling guilty and trying to ignore the rainbow colours he was seeing, that he had only just noticed how close they were once again. He remembered the last time it had snowed, but when he looked for that shocked and scared feeling that had been there last time, he discovered it was much harder to find. He was still scared, but curiosity had begun to stick its nose in there too. Instead of thinking: "Oh God get me out of here," he was now thinking: "I wonder if this is a good idea or not." If he had been in a better state, he also might have put this down to the fact that alcohol was a fan of hiring three big blokes in overalls to come and smash down your walls of inhibitions. 

Nonetheless, as Kaiba took a step forwards he took a step backwards.

And suddenly there wasn't anymore behind, there was just a book case at his back and a large, rather appropriately good looking, man in front of him. He was too close to see a right or a left. There was just him.

When one is driving a car at night time and the road ahead suddenly becomes co-inhabited by a rabbit, the rabbit in question will tend to freeze in the face of such company rather than make any sort of attempt to get out of the way. Whether this is because the rabbit feels it has less chance of being spotted in a cars high beams whilst remaining motionless or because the animal is simply stupid, it is an interesting similarity to note that when presented with his most recent situation Katsuya's reaction was much less similar to the common rabbit's.

He froze. Kaiba was staring at him way too seriously, and his brain was buzzing from intoxication. What he thought he wanted to do was lean up and see what Seto's mouth tasted like, but that didn't seem very logical. In fact, it was altogether puzzling given what he thought he remembered that he thought he was feeling about the other man earlier. Or something like that.

He also wanted to look away because he thought he might already have been blushing; such an intent gaze was very becoming on Kaiba. Katsuya sort of… liked… knowing that the CEO was looking like that because of _him_, but at the same time it was very embarrassing. A similar feeling is felt by the recipient of a marriage proposal made by someone at a party or over a loud speaker; a grand gesture but slightly embarrassing all the same.

Whilst Katsuya stood there debating whether he could remember any of the pro's and con's and probable repercussions of kissing Kaiba, Kaiba himself managed to move even a bit closer.

Now his eyes were larger. Their intensity was almost blinding, but there was something else in there; something hesitant.

"Jonouchi, ah, I know I said I wouldn't ever…"

Later, Jou would be left to ponder that if alcohol could be used as a propellant, the world would be able to save thousands on petroleum.

He didn't even let Seto finish the sentence before he launched himself (the small distance) towards the CEO and stopped the other from making much more than an unintelligible mumbling sound as his brain caught up to the fact that he wasn't able to pronounce words properly anymore.

It was Seto's turn to act like a stunned rabbit before it occurred to him that Jou was kissing _him_, not the other way around, and had to remind himself that this was a_welcome _turn of events and that he should _damn well make the most of the opportunity _before Jou decided to come to his senses.

Katsuya found himself flattened against the bookcase; his arms suddenly were wrapped around Kaiba without his conscious thought of placing them there. Something was driving his body without the consent of his brain, and the same source drove his lips to part themselves and let Kaiba's tongue inside his mouth.

Seto, meanwhile, was also wondering whether this move was something he'd regret once his own hangover hit him the next morning. He supposed he could always point out that this time it wasn't his fault…

Katsuya felt Kaiba touch his hair, and his face, and next to his ear… that felt nice. He was warm and a whole lot gentler than he might have thought. Not that he'd ever before really entertained thoughts like the one's he was having now. This was a whole new realm of thinking…

He was thinking Kaiba would look a lot better if he removed his shirt.

With a sudden determination to see this plan come to fruition, he moved his hand down Kaiba's chest with the idea of un-tucking his shirt to discover what was underneath. The other man didn't sound at all like he had a problem with it. Katsuya almost smiled.

There was a loud crash from the down the hall, like someone had broken something expensive. Both men froze and turned to the door automatically, but it didn't open. Seto was close enough to hear Jou's heart pounding. He paused for a moment, then slowly moved backwards and took his arms away from the other. Though he was surprised to feel a little tug at his shirt when the distance stretched too long.

Jonouchi was clutching the bottom of his top lightly, but looking directly at his eyes. Seto looked up. The expression was unreadable. His face was flushed, his blonde hair was a bit messed up, and he was breathing too quickly. He looked almost… confused. Like they'd suddenly teleported and he no longer had any idea where he was. He looked like he wanted an answer.

Seto didn't know the answer, he only knew that any moment now someone would come looking for him to get him to come and oversee the situation, and for both their sakes it wasn't a good idea to be found in this position.

_Let go of my shirt. _

Slowly, or what felt like slowly, Jonouchi released his hold on the shirt. It hadn't been a tight grip, but Kaiba felt it was more polite not to wrench himself away. After all, his mind was still buzzing with what had just happened.

He stepped back, and finally turned around. The door had somehow managed to relocate to very far away, and it took hours to cross the room to reach it. But once he was outside, and it had closed, time seemed to feel the need to compensate for the slow period and started progressing rather quickly. He barely got through straightening his shirt before someone had found him and he was, at the next instant, amidst a whole group of people standing around a smashed vase and a wine stained sofa. Someone was apologizing and someone else was scurrying over with what looked like surface cleaner and a towel. Someone held a broom out to someone else and he noted with detached interest that the vase had been one of his step-fathers favourites. He had never much cared for it.

And none of it… really… seemed to matter.

* * *

Katsuya stared up at his ceiling with as much interest as a deaf man at a stereo system. His brain was miles away, back at Kaiba's house. A week later and it was still all that was on his mind. He considered trying to smother himself with his pillow but could only imagine Anzu reprimanding him in the afterlife with; "You can't just kill yourself every time you encounter a relationship problem." With a tone similar to a nanny explaining to a child that it's no good staying up late, you'll just be tired the next morning instead. 

His eyes started to close of their own free will. He'd thought reminiscing would help him to begin to think about where to go next, but all it had managed to achieve was making him fall to sleep. It was like counting sheep, only instead he was counting the number of times he'd done something stupid during the recent weeks. The events seemed numerous enough to put even the worst insomniac to sleep.

And as his brain slowed to a minimum speed, and his eyes fell completely closed, he thought: 'well, it certainly worked for me.'

* * *

A/N: If you're still reading, thanks again. I hope I can update sooner next time, and hopefully see you again. Happy reading. (P.S. Side Story! Another dig! Read! Review!)

-Etsuyo


	13. Plans

Ch 13 (Plans)

A/N: I only got to reply to about half of your reviews this time; so sorry! Just wanted to mention, again, how heart-warming it is for me every time I check my email to see that somebody has reviewed. I don't even mind if you review and say you didn't like it. It just lets me know that people are reading it at all, and that, in itself, is very flattering.

Disclaimer: Characters, worlds, people, games, and everything else is owned by and copyrighted Kazuki Takahashi. This is a non-for-profit fan work with no particular personal gain in mind. I own the writing and nothing else.

* * *

It had been one of those dreams that made him thankful his mother didn't do his laundry. Or his housekeeper for that matter, who, granted, was closer to a Grandmother-type figure, but he assumed that if he had been some years younger the state of his bed sheets would have received quite a stern look from old Nakamura-san. _If_ she had done his washing, which she wouldn't have because he had a laundry service that did that kind of thing for him. And even if he hadn't his mother also wouldn't have been the one do his washing because he didn't have a mother anymore owing to the fact that he was an orphan. He didn't even have a step-mother because Gozaburo had never married. Which explained why he needed to adopt, which explained why Seto owned a 'family' business. He figured if the late Gozaburo _had _had a wife, all signs pointed to the possibility that she would have been a horrible person and he could have imagined that the inheritance he and Mokuba had assumed would never have taken place.

Just another reason why women were utterly pointless.

The significant correlation between an imaginary step-mother and unclean bed sheets aside, Seto was having dreams. He'd been having similar dreams since hitting puberty in his mid-teens but, to his knowledge, none of them had ever involved his personal assistants before.

Well no, that possibly wasn't true. There had been that one time, when he had relented and allowed a high school student to spend one week doing work experience with him. This was a number of years back too, probably while he was in his final year of schooling. She had been pretty and chirpy and keen to investigate everything about his workplace and honestly, he didn't _like_ pretty and chirpy, but certain parts of his body had, at the time, decided to disagree with him.

So actually, _technically_ she hadn't been his personal assistant, which would actually make the latest series of dreams see the first in the line of assistants employed long term he'd had these sorts of dreams about.

Now that that was all sorted out, the next phase of the process was to work out whether or not he was bothered by this.

He decided he was.

Not only was he having to change his sheets more often than normal, he was dreaming about a boy. He'd done that once or twice before, but never consecutively or about the same person. And lately, this is exactly what it had been. They were all about the same person, the same assistant, who happened to be a boy.

Seto was still in the process of trying to work out exactly what it was that attracted him to Jou. He himself was not gay in the sense that every man who walked into his office he began to asses on a sexiness level of 1 – 10. Well, you know, there was the _occasional _person who walked in who was practically chin-dropping gorgeous and who it was impossible not to have even the slightest naughty thought about.

But Jonouchi was not strikingly handsome, or bowled over innocent pedestrians with the power of his sexy golden hair swishing. Which wasn't to say, either, that he was unattractive, for all goods and purposes he was at least a seven.

Well, a very generous seven.

Anyway, that left Seto with the puzzling thought that if it was not because Jou was so incredibly attractive, why was he so incredibly attracted to Jou?

He'd heard of, as opposed to having first hand experience in the matter, tales of people enduring relationships because the couples were attracted to each other's personality. Seto had never considered that he would marry for anything other than money or power, and he still fully intended on doing so, but the blond assistant didn't have money _or_ power, and his dreams still told him he wanted to have sex with him.

So did that mean the logical conclusion was that he was attracted to Jou as a _person_? That they simply got along so well he wanted to develop their relationship? Get to know him more? Spend more time with him? (Screw him until he couldn't walk straight?)

All of that was simply way too mushy for his likings. But unfortunately, it felt like an eye-opener. The longer he thought about why he liked Jonouchi, the more used to the idea he became. Which was not his original intention. His original intention was to forget about what had happened between them, and to continue working alongside of the younger man in a purely professional environment and furthermore to quickly move on to finding some hot, young, loaded business woman with whom to copulate and create many heirs to his vast fortune if the unforeseen were to happen to his younger brother.

Even the best laid plans…

And to further tip the scales was the newest incident, the Christmas party. It also occurred to him that his life had become, it seemed, simply a series of 'incidents', but Seto felt that the latest in line of these could definitely be counted as a big one. There were certainly some things to ponder: such as the fact that Jou had been the one to initiate contact. (Which sounded entirely too clinical but Seto was not used to analyzing in any other form of language).

It occurred to him that, although he had put some considerable thought into his own feelings towards Jou, he had not really thought about the reverse. He did not even recognize the feeling that overcame him when he actually thought about the fact that his own feelings might not be reciprocated.

That was the problem with being a multi-billionaire. People didn't say no to you, if they considered their livelihood valuable. But now, staring him right in the face, was the possibility that someone would say no and he would actually _care_.

Damn.

Oh but then, what was the meaning behind the kiss? Was it possible that Jou might return this feeling?

… This feeling. He was thinking of it in the definite now. The present. The constant. It existed, and he had acknowledged that.

He was, quintessentially, doomed.

He could never go back now. He liked Jou and that's all there was to it. It had the potential to grow, but would be hard to deny out of existence. Feelings were like mentally solid formations. Trying to get rid of a feeling would be like trying to tell your carpet it didn't exist. No matter how long, or how loudly you yelled at it, it would still be there once you got home from work.

It was strange though, it felt like as soon as he'd come to grips with the fact, and was no longer attempting to deny what his dreams were already telling him was true, it felt as if an invisible weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

He hoped to buggery it had been transferred to some other poor bastards shoulder. No sense in wasting a decent weight of denial. There was sure to be some other foolish individual out there who needed one. Those people on reality singing shows for example.

Well, at least that got step 1 out of the way. Now for step 2…

Or, rather, for step 1a, which involved working out just what step 2 was supposed to be…

* * *

It had taken him a good thirty minutes to decide whether to be early or late. To the uncaring passerby, this may have seemed slightly ridiculous; but he knew it was an important, nay crucial, decision.

The reason was thus: he had to decide which arrival time would make it more likely that he would not bump into Kaiba. It was imperative that he avoid contact for as long as possible. Last time he'd taken a whole day off (albeit unintentionally) and was determined not to repeat the performance. Which had resulted in his setting of three separate alarm clocks all an hour earlier than he would normally get up.

One could never be too careful, he reasoned.

So it came to the decision as to whether to be early or late. If he was late he might arrive to find the CEO already at work in his office. If he was early he might have to interact with him as he walked past on his way in_to_ his office. That all seemed logical enough, it now came down to an issue of time. How late was appropriate? Kaiba had a bad habit of varying his entry time by at least one to two minutes. So just how late was he likely to be today? Would five minutes cover it? But if he was _too _late he might be reprimanded. There was security downstairs who always recorded your sign in time. They'd know he was running late (not on purpose but still…). Oh! Maybe if he signed in on time, then went and hid somewhere until he was late, then he could solve both problems at once! Genius!

All this was an issue at all because it was a Saturday. On a normal weekday afternoon when he began work Kaiba was likely to already be at a business meeting or not be there at all in the afternoon because he was out surveying, or calling in to another company, or (he wildly suspected) at some tropical beach slacking off with a pina colada in one hand and a bikini-clad super model in the other. He had gone so far as to draw a small diagram on a throw away napkin to begin planning the most secretive way to get to his desk without being spotted by too many people.

Any normal human being would have pointed out that he was insane.

As he stepped off the train and walked towards the towering office building, one minute slowly the next minute changing his mind and walking so fast he nearly knocked an elderly woman in front of a bus, Jonouchi Katsuya's stomach churned with anxiety. He hadn't decided anything. He was still confused. And he was starting to feel the beginnings of what he suspected might be shame.

The double doors loomed ahead. He prayed to God that Kaiba was already in there, safely inside his office, and wouldn't go out for the next eight hours.

_Oh Lord, thou art merciful, and in thy mercy let it be that this shall come to pass and that all may be avoided without confrontation. That you may find it in your infinite generosity to let me see not hide nor hair of that for whom my feelings are yet unbeknownst to even myself, that you… hey, is that Kaiba's limo? _

"Fuck…"

Even running wouldn't be quick enough. Also it would have appeared too obvious. All that was left would be to walk briskly, pretend it was because of the cold, pretend not to notice the man getting out of the car, the man looking fetching with his collar turned up against the winter wind, accentuating his jaw line, the man walking towards him, with a slightly angry look on his face…

Better to get your apology out first.

"Kaiba… I…"

"Oh good you're here." Making it sound like he hadn't heard him at all.

"What?"

"Saves me the trouble of having to come up and get you."

"_What?"_

Kaiba was looking at him like he was speaking in English. "I told you two weeks ago…"

"About what?" Katsuya's mind was racing, he wasn't there at all, he had no idea what the other was talking about.

"I need you to come with me today."

Katsuya looked faint, "What…?" He repeated again, a little lamely.

Kaiba frowned, "The shareholders meeting. I sent you two memos and an email."

The cogs just weren't doing their job this morning, but Kaiba looked like he lacked the time to explain. "Just get in the car," He said with annoyance.

He didn't remember the memo, but he was quickly coming to grips with the new situation; "Ah! Are you sure this isn't some elaborate plot to get me into your limo just so's you can take advantage of me?"

Kaiba stopped in his tracks, "E… excuse me?"

"It was a joke," Katsuya said hastily, trying to emphasize how much he really had intended for it to be. No time like the present to attempt to get back into their old humour.

Kaiba said nothing but frowned again and pointed towards the car. Katsuya raised his hands in surrender.

_I'm going, I'm going. _

Afterwards the atmosphere got chilly again. He slid into the back seat and a few seconds later Kaiba got in too. Katsuya continued to move across to make room, and finally settled on the facing seat, all the way over in the opposite corner. As far away as possible.

Kaiba pressed a button on a panel near to his elbow, he spoke into it to let the driver know they were settled inside. No sooner had he shut off the intercom than the car pulled away from the curb.

They sat in silence for a few minutes. The air inside seemed cold despite the air conditioner set on heating. Katsuya recognized that it was not the physical temperature causing this. In an attempt to distract himself from the present, he tried to think back and remember why he was in this situation at all. Now that he was thinking clearly, he did recall being told about some meeting he was supposed to go to with Kaiba and take notes on. Or bring him coffee. Or something… he was sure the CEO would deign to remind him. So it was a shareholders meeting was it? Sounded boring.

Come to think of it, under his large traveling cloak Kaiba was wearing a particularly expensive suit today. He also looked like he'd had a hair cut (it was always perfect anyway, hardly notice any difference except to people who happened to see him half the days in a week), and what appeared to be a brand new notebook bag. Katsuya recognized that Kaiba was trying to make a good impression, and he suddenly felt a little guilty he hadn't remembered and made a similar effort. What he was wearing was not his best clothes, and his hair looked like it had just been used to mop the floor of a public bathroom – he had been so preoccupied this morning with other things he hadn't paid it much attention.

He was running out of information to distract his mind with, and his eyes kept glancing back over at the other man, whose fingers kept drumming themselves impatiently on the seat next to him. He needed to break the silence.

"Um…" But what to say next?

_Quick! Something! He's looking at you!_

Kaiba turned to him and raised an eyebrow.

_How can you look so relaxed!?_ "Er… so where are we going?"

"It was in the email."

Katsuya laughed without conviction, "I, um, can't remember the _exact_ details of…"

"My house,"

He gulped, "Excuse me?"

"To pick up Mokuba," He expanded disinterestedly.

"Mokuba…"

"The Vice President of Kaiba Corp?"

"I know who he is." Katsuya snapped.

"You just looked so lost…"

"Don't patronize me."

Kaiba smirked. Katsuya glared. This wasn't getting off on the right foot…

He had assumed that from Kaiba needing to use the intercom the driver couldn't hear them while the screen was up dividing one section from the other. He decided to take a dive then. Because the brunet didn't appear to be willing to break the ice on what had happened the last time they met at any moment soon.

"Don't you think we should talk about it?"

"It?"

"What happened. Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about you git."

"Back to calling me names. I see we've taken the time to really _grow_ as a person…"

"You bastard!" He was getting angry now, Kaiba was being completely unhelpful, and he was stressed enough about this as it was. He was on edge, and did not appreciate the unwilling participant in the conversation. Was Kaiba really that unconcerned? He'd seemed so… well… so much _nicer_ last time they saw each other.

"Temper."

"Shut up! Stop acting so high and mighty! We need to work this out!"

Kaiba gave him a long look, "Work what out? It all seems very clear to me. You kissed me, I responded…"

"You started this!" He half-yelled, cutting into what the other was saying and only at the last minute remembering where they were and that another person might hear.

"Don't be so childish," Kaiba paused, the phrase 'it takes two to tango' just seemed a bit too clichéd; "A relationship is a two-person thing." He finished instead.

"We're not _in _a relationship!" Katsuya gasped, exasperated.

Another short pause, "No… we're not."

Katsuya was breathing a bit too quickly. His blood was rushing from anger and frustration and he just wanted to hit something. But this stopped him talking, for at least long enough for the car to grind to a halt as well. Thoughts flew through his head at lightning speed.

It was true… they weren't in a relationship… so why was he so upset? Why did Kaiba make it sound like he had no feelings for him at all? Like he was only going along with it?

The car door opened, in piled Mokuba followed by a casual looking briefcase and a nod goodbye from a security guard and a few seconds later they were rolling again.

Mokuba glanced from Jou staring at his feet to his brother staring out the window, both so transfixed away from each other it appeared as if even the world's most powerful magnet wouldn't be able to tear their eyes from their positions. "It's kinda chilly in here." He commented slowly, experimentally.

"Controls are in the middle." Kaiba said without apparent interest.

Mokuba didn't make a move to touch them. "Did you have a good Christmas, Jonouchi?"

Katsuya nodded, "It was fine."

Mokuba pouted and folded his arms. Well, this was going to be a fun day. He'd been getting the vibe that these two were becoming more attached lately, but apparently he'd been dead wrong. The air was so icy right now you could have snap frozen chili in it.

"Well, if neither of you minds…" He mumbled, rather to himself, and pulled out an mp3 player. Anything was better than a silence like that.

* * *

Upon reflection Seto realized that, for probably not the first time, he hadn't handled the situation as best he possibly could have. Because while he was slowly becoming happier to admit to himself that he had feelings for Jou, he wasn't quite at the stage where he was willing to let anyone else in on the information as well. Especially the most concerned party.

Why it appeared most logical to him that Jonouchi should be the last person to find out he wasn't sure, but he knew losing a lot of pride would be involved in such a confession, and so he had decided to put it off for as long as possible. But from the way the other man was now glaring at him, it struck him that the course of action he had chosen to take may not have indeed been the best one either. He replayed his words in his mind and realized they may have come across too uncaringly.

He had a hard time handling Jou when he was angry. This was not because he was scared of him or anything similar, but because that type of conversation was so ingrown into him that his responses were automatic and of the negative sort. In situations like those it was not easy to forget how long he had hated the blond for, and so slipping back into calling him an inadequate mutt just seemed so easy. His tongue ran away with him and he found himself speaking before thinking. It was hard to take things back at times like that, he knew.

He wondered what he should do to fix things. Because they did appear in need of repair. Mokuba had spent the best half of the morning attempting conversation between the three of them but so far hadn't made much progress. Katsuya gradually began to stop looking so angry, and instead looked upset and confused. Seto couldn't work out which expression he disliked more.

It took a good two hours to reach their destination, which was a little way outside Domino City. It was a nice area they were driving through at least, away from the coast and further into the countryside. Hills and farming land whizzed by the windows for a little while before it was replaced again by shops and houses. Eventually they reached their landmark; a robust building used for corporate functions and owned by a large rice company who also controlled all the surrounding farm area.

They had shares in the stock of Kaiba Corp., and Seto secretly suspected this was how they had come to be so profitable themselves. The company had offered to host their shareholders meeting in the upstairs board room free of charge, and he was more than happy to oblige them. At least this way he wouldn't have to harass his catering team this week.

He was mildly impressed with what was presented on arrival. The rice maker practically groveled at his feet when they got out of the car, and was all too eager to show them around. Snow covered all the rice fields and low clouds did not allow them to see very far off into the distance, so they did not bother to venture outside. He did admit that their function centre had a nice set up. It was a very big place, with huge glass windows and views right around the outside. In the summer time it must have been quite beautiful, you could probably see all the surrounding green hills and in spring time there would be lots of flowers in bloom as well, completing the picture.

The rice maker offered they go upstairs to the meeting room. They'd arrived early as planned so no one was there yet, but Seto inspected the food, which was decked out in a separate room, and tasted the wine, which they had obviously not gone to a great expense to provide.

The owner then excused himself for a phone call he had to take and left them to it. Seto's bodyguards lingered in one corner like anti-social party guests, but he was quite used to ignoring them and going about his business.

Next to him, Mokuba stole a piece of sushi from a plate.

Jonouchi had been there the whole time as well of course, walking along behind them while the rice maker blabbered about their increase in wholegrain turnover. Seto realized he must never have been to something like this. He himself was used to touring companies or properties scouting out potential investments or having people shuffling around him like this, hoping he could be bought. But Jou had led a different life entirely.

Right now the man's fascination seemed to have momentarily replaced his hurt and confusion. He was staring at a plate of karaage and looking as if he was having a hard time controlling his hand from reaching out and stuffing one into his mouth. Seto thought he should take pity on him.

"It won't eat itself you know."

Jou raised an eyebrow at him, suspecting a trap.

"Mokuba's eating too…" He gestured to where his younger brother was already much further down the table, his plate loaded with small portions of everything.

Convinced, Jou picked up a piece and ate it. Seto resisted the urge to be happy about this. A few more moments passed in relative silence. The security guards had begun to talk quietly amongst themselves, and the youngest Kaiba was heard to be chewing with great delight, completely oblivious to all but his array of food. Seto realized that this might be the right moment to say something.

"Um… I'm sorry if I was a little curt earlier."

Jou froze, about to place another piece in his mouth, "You're sorry?"

Seto frowned, "Yes."

"About being rude?"

He coughed, "The word I used was 'curt'"

"About being rude?"

He deflated, "Alright, yes."

"Apology accepted."

Wait, what? "Just like that?"

Jonouchi looked at him like a cat being asked to move out of the way, "Yes?"

"Oh… I just thought it might be… harder than that."

Jou shrugged, "It's alright."

Seto looked at the other man's face, he seemed honest enough. He even went and ate another piece of food. It might be time to initiate Plan B…

"Look… about this relationship we're not having…"

"Nii-sama, the rice man is back." Seto almost jumped, he turned and saw the owner striding back towards them with a grin the size of New Zealand on his face.

Interruptions be damned.

"Kaiba-sama! Some of the investors have arrived, I've greeted them and sent them on up, they'll be here momentarily!" Then he clapped his hands together whilst looking positively delighted. Seto returned his gratitude with considerably less excitement.

Thereafter he found no opportunity to speak to his secretary again. He became consumed by handshakes and nods and bows and people clapping him on the back and asking him how his business was going. Straight afterwards the actual meeting began and ran for four hours with a short break in the middle. He barley had a chance to remind Jou to take notes before he was swept away by charts and diagrams and fat men standing up to make speeches. He himself spoke the longest of everyone and by the end of the day his throat was so parched he could barely say goodbye without coughing.

He was in the middle of bidding farewell to another pompous business man when he caught sight of his brother and his assistant again. Jou was finally smiling, engaged in conversation with Mokuba, and, thankfully, both of them avoiding the majority of self-important flamboyance that made up the rest of the populated room. He noticed for the first time how much his brother had really grown up – he was almost the same height as the blond puppy now. As if sensing his thoughts, Mokuba turned his way, spotted him, and waved.

He spared a nod back and then bowed shortly to the men in front of him, who were wishing him a safe trip home.

No sooner had they left than a fresh lot took their place. The cycle was endless, and dear God did he need something to drink.

"Thank you for coming," but it wasn't his voice, it was Mokuba's. Apparently they'd decided to join him. He shut his open mouth, having just been about to say the exact same words.

Something cold touched his hand, and he looked down in surprise to find he was holding a bottle of water.

"Just thought you might need it," Jou said quietly so no one else could hear.

Seto gaped, and realized he could have kissed him there and then.

The investors got his attention back. He said goodbye, then didn't waste a moment in taking a gulp of water so large it was like he hadn't had a drop in weeks. The rest of the crowd seemed to leave quicker after that, and he once again had the voice to part from them properly.

He said a somewhat bland thank you to the rice maker for letting him use their meeting room, and noted that he might want to get the taps looked at in the facilities. Then they all piled back into the limo and began the drive back home. It was a much cozier trip than the last. Mainly it was Mokuba and Jou chatting away but they managed to drag Seto into speech a few times as well. He even noted, with a curious interest, that this time Jou was sitting on the seat next to him, not across from him, albeit still as far to the other side as he could manage. He was smiling again, and waving his arms around to describe things, and the CEO realized that Jou smiling made him want to smile too. It suited him, that look. It was also quite attractive.

And he thought, with a certain sinking feeling, that he was going to have to confess soon. Plan B seemed to be heading in that direction, whether he liked the idea or not.

* * *

"It's getting kind of late, maybe I should walk you home?"

Anzu, being the particularly bright cookie that she was, noticed the hint straight away; "Yeah, it's pitch black right now. Thanks Jou!"

Honda, who was more of a non-luminous cookie, was confused; "I think she's old enough to handle herself ya know."

"It's only a few blocks away." Katsuya reasoned.

Honda blinked in the artificial light of the street lamp, "Well exactly. It's only a few blocks, she'll be fine."

Katsuya stumbled, he didn't think it was going to be this hard; "Um… well…"

Anzu took the initiative and intervened, "Well, you can always walk me home too Honda."

Katsuya shot her a panicked look. What was she thinking?

Honda considered this, "Meh, can't be bothered. See you two at uni." Then he walked away, giving them a short wave from over his shoulder.

Anzu smiled, "Works every time."

"I think you know people too well." He muttered, as they turned in the other direction and walked back to her house.

Anzu still lived with her parents, but according to her informants they'd taken the week off to spend at a winter resort. She, apparently, wasn't enjoying having to take the rubbish out herself.

"Sit down." It wasn't a request, Katsuya sat quickly. "Now, you wanted to talk about something?"

Maybe this was all just one huge bad idea… he was having severe second thoughts about it.

"Uh… well…"

She frowned at him whilst making a cup of coffee for them both. "Well, you didn't come back here to make out, so what's up?"

He paled at the thought, and decided later would be a better time to nurture his scared mental image projectors back to life. He was here now, he needed to focus.

"I wanted to talk to you about someone… uh, I mean, something."

She nodded knowingly, "Go on."

He felt a bit frustrated that he had to explain it at all when she was acting like she had already worked out what he was going to say.

He paused again, and this gave her time to shove a mug into his hands. Then she took a seat on another chair and sipped her own quietly, waiting for him to start.  
"Look… I want you to keep what I'm telling you just between us okay?"

She nodded, "You know I can keep a secret."

"And I don't want you to think any less of me…"

"I'm surprised you think you can sink any lower." She grinned. It helped.

So he took a deep breath and told her everything, from start to finish. By the time he stopped talking his coffee was cold and hers was all gone. Once he'd begun it had been hard to stop. And she hadn't made any looks of outrage or disgust so he didn't really encounter any reason _to_ stop. Finally, after almost the whole time of avoiding her eye sight, he looked back at her, and waited for her to say something.

"Well, nothing too extraordinary there that I hadn't already reckoned was the case." She said matter-of-factly.

Katsuya felt himself torn between trying to decide what to do next; would it be better to whack her behind the ear, or give her a big hug? "If you knew all that already why did you make me say it!?"

She gave one of those knowing little smirks women tend to do quite a lot since most of the time they have a much better grasp of the situation than men do, but don't like to indulge men too much otherwise they would no longer have a use for the age-old informed little smile, and therefore instead of expanding on their point will simply do this instead. "_That's _not the point. Now, do you feel better having gotten it all off your chest?"

"Of course n…" Then he paused and thought about it. Actually, maybe he did just feel a tiny bit better. Over the last few months he'd given Anzu glimpses into what was really going on at the office – especially when he needed her help with getting his job back, he had thought she had worked some of it out then – but this time he had been completely honest and hadn't missed a single part. He'd even gone so far as to divulge a certain percentage of his _feelings_ and Lord knows those had never been announced verbally before. So really, he'd had quite a lot cooped up inside him until now, and he began to notice that it felt a lot better to be able to free some of those thoughts so that the rest of his mind wasn't so hassled.

Suddenly he didn't feel so claustrophobic anymore.

"Alright, yes, I feel a bit better."

She did the smile again.

"But I really came to ask you for advice. You're a woman, you know about this sort of thing."

"Actually, being that I _am _a woman, I have very little personal experience with being a man in a homosexual relationship."

Katsuya choked on his air, "Please… don't say it so blandly."

She nodded apologetically.

"That's one thing though. I don't… I mean… I'm not gay!" He said it almost imploringly, looking at her and honestly trying to make her believe him.

She paused for a moment, "I know that."

This wasn't quite the answer he'd expected either. He had expected her to pulled out the facts and explain to him that yes, sorry, he was. For there were quite a few facts to fall back on. "What?"

"Well," she began in a reasoning voice, the kind of voice a maths teacher uses while trying to explain why, if Suzie has one banana and Benny has four grapes and Todd has eight pickles and Miranda has sixteen agapanthus', why, exactly, it should have any relevance at all to compound fractions. "You've never been interested in any other men before, have you?"

Katsuya thought about this, he couldn't recall another other time he'd thought seriously about being with a guy. Sometimes a man would walk down the street who was so obviously attractive that it even made someone like Honda notice, but it wasn't like he'd gone home and had _other _types of thoughts about that man either. Now… a chick with a huge rack and skirt short enough to expose the bottom of her bum he might be thinking about up to, oh say, an entire day later.

"No." He said with total honesty.

"So really, Kaiba is the only guy you are interested in?"

"Yes."

"So you're not gay." She said conclusively.

"But, what if I'm gay _now. _I mean yeah, before I wasn't. But what about now?"

She gave him a look that contained one raised eyebrow, "How many other men have you fancied since you starting liking Kaiba?"

"None."

"Then you're not gay."

"But…"

"Jou. Not gay."

"But…"

"Look, just because you happen to like one single person of the same sex as you, I don't think that really means you've packed all your bags and moved over to the other side of the fence, signed change of address forms and bought a small villa. Its more like… moving a bit closer to the fence without actually opening the gate and walking through."

"Oh."

She smiled and reached out and patted his arm, "I don't think that is what you need to be worrying most about right now."

His sighed dispiritedly, "Yeah, what I really need to worry about is what the hell I'm going to do next."

She nodded.

"I'm really confused," He raked a hand through his hair to begin relieving some of the stress, "I mean, I think… I like him. But I don't know what he thinks; one minute it's like we're getting along perfectly and then the next he turns around and says there is nothing there and it was all my fault. I just don't know what to do."

She sat and thought for a few expectant minutes, "Well, for the moment, forget about what he thinks and focus on what you think. You like him. You want to be with him?"

The words sounded so different when they were spoken out loud. In his head it was a casual phrase he could bring up when he needed a label for a possible outcome of his developing emotions, but when they hung in the physical air it was like a written vow of monogamy signed in blood.

"I don't know!" He sounded a bit panicky, "Maybe… yes? Maybe?"

"Well perhaps you should work that out. What would you even do if Kaiba rang you right now and told you he liked you?"

"Pretend I was an answering machine?"

"Incorrect."

He sighed, "I don't know, it's hard enough trying to work out how I feel let alone having to tell _him _any of this." Really, there was a lot to come to terms with.

She smiled warmly, "I understand. Well, I think you telling me today will probably help you sort some stuff out. And you can always talk to me again sometime. Now you just have to think. But remember to consider your own feelings first."

He nodded dutifully.

"Good. Now, would you like me to refill that coffee? It looks colder than granite."

* * *

It was actually quite funny, from the point of view of a fly on the wall who happened to be interested in inter-office romances which didn't seem to be making much headway owing to the fact that neither of the concerned parties wanted to close any distance.

It was like posting a letter you really didn't want to send. You could write it, seal it, stamp and address it, walk down the road to the post box to send it, and once you got there, instead of placing it inside, you just keep walking. You were distinctly aware of the moment passing you by, you even went so far as to create the moment yourself, however once you got there you couldn't do it, and so, halfway down the road, you turned around, and tried for a second time. This has the possibility of continuing on indefinitely, or at least until one needs to go to the bathroom, and while all the steps are in place, the final most important push is needed for the whole entire plan to work.

And this was exactly what was going on inside Kaiba Corps. HQ. The situation was clear enough (in each of their separate minds) something needed to be said, they just didn't want to be the first one to say it. In Seto's mind he knew he had to tell Jou he liked him, and in Katsuya's mind he knew he needed to tell Seto he thought he might possibly like him. And then perhaps demand to know what exactly he planned to do about it.

But, like sending an unhappy letter, when it came to clinching the deal each party passed by the opportunity feigning complete ignorance and attempting to pretend it was much less obvious than a bright red post box.

* * *

"I don't know what to make of this file, what do you think?" Seto handed the papers over, frowning in thought.

Katsuya considered it, "Maybe an origami crane?"

If Kaiba wore glasses he would have pushed them to end of his nose then looked up at Jou with an expression that conveyed without words the question: "was that meant to be funny?"

Even without them he managed to get the message across. "Out." He demanded, grabbing the information back.

Another missed opportunity.

He had been trying to reason out what the worst outcome of confession could possibly be. The technique had always helped him in the past; you thought of all the possible outcomes of the action you intended to take, decided on the worst and then worked out a strategy of dealing with that possibility. The theory was that once you realized that the worst thing that could happen was not so bad after all, you had more confidence to go through with it.

He decided that the worst possible outcome here would be that Jou could laugh in his face, tell his friends, let it spread around the office, and it might leak to the media.

Well, that wasn't too bad, if that happened all he would need to do would be to kill Jou's friends, fire all of his employees and re-hire new ones, deny everything to the general public, and re-locate to Mexico. Flawless.

At any rate, that was a fairly extreme outcome, he thought. And to compare the repercussions of what would happen if he didn't say anything, well, it was just better to let him know. Seto wasn't in the mood for a feeling that would eat away at him inside for years if it wasn't let out into the open.

Besides, apparently you only lived once. Apparently you had to grab life by the balls and live it to the fullest. Apparently you should live each day with no regrets, because you never know which of them will be your last.

Two hours later Jou re-appeared. Seto hadn't been able to get much work done all day, this fact becoming particularly clear to him as he realized that he was still staring at the same report he had been when the blond was last in his office.

He had been in the middle of pouring himself a glass of water from a jug on top of a short bookshelf. He offered Jou a glass too but he shook his head. His PA walked across the room and unloaded a pile of photocopies onto his desk, then he examined the letters in his outbox. Seto took a sip of water and watched him closely. Jonouchi seemed to be able to feel his gaze and shifted uncomfortably, determinedly not looking his way.

He began to walk back to his desk but stopped beside the other man instead. He took another sip.

"By the way, I'm leaving for America tonight." In exactly the sort of unimportant, disinterested way people would say, 'there's a door in your wall'.

This seemed to floor Katsuya, who lost all pretense of pretending to ignore him when he replied with; "WHAT!?"

"And I wanted to speak to you before I left."

"You're going _where_!?" He repeated, quickly losing his firm hold on the present.

"It's about this whole… situation… we've gotten into." Seto placed his glass slowly onto the desk.

"To America?"

"And I wanted to let you know before I left, so you'd have some time to think about it."

"But why?"

"I like you. A lot I think."

"How long for!?"

"Well, a while now."

"A while? How long is awhile!?"

"I don't _know._"

"You mean you'll just go and don't even know when you'll be back! What kind of planning is that!?"

"Wait, pardon?"

It is perfectly not okay for two people to be having a conversation with each other about entirely different subjects for a number of reasons. The first and most important of these is air wastage. Due to logging in places like the Amazon rainforest, and our modern age of technology and acute need for A4 sheets of paper, the Earth itself is losing natural oxygen like a balloon with a puncture wound and creating carbon dioxide faster than a flatulent baby. People spending time engaging in conversations without actually interacting their sentences together wastes even more precious air elements because these discussions usually end up taking twice as long, with each party having to say everything twice; once when the other isn't listening, and once again when the other realizes they haven't heard a word of it and it needs to be repeated.

A less important reason is because it doesn't make much sense to do so in the first place.

"We were talking about America…"

"No, we were talking about me confessing my feelings."

"I'm pretty sure we were talking about America."

"I like you."

"You're going to America."

"I told you to think about it while I was gone."

Of course, sometimes it is impossible to maintain a normal conversation, given that both parties are concerned solely with their own half of the interaction. This is often referred to as 'being stupid'.

"Will you just please answer my questions!"

"Will you just listen to me?"

Katsuya frowned and it looked more like a pout, "Fine, what have you got to say?"

Seto went wide-eyed; "I've already said it _twice_!"

"Said what?"

"That I like you!"

Somewhere, probably in local bank, a penny dropped. Neither of them heard it.

"Oh… you… oh."

"And I don't want you to say anything, I just want you to think about it while I'm gone. Um… please."

Katsuya was staring at the carpet, without really realizing it was there, and thinking; _he just said please._

Because he didn't say anything else, Seto coughed. "Now, I really must begin to pack up…"

"Wait." Katsuya snapped back to life and grabbed the others' arm as if he were already walking out the door… to a plane… to very far away.

"Why are you going? How long are you going for?"

"We're looking to expand our market overseas. And maybe a month."

"A month?"

"Well repeating me isn't going to make a difference."

"But what about here? What about work?" _What about me? _

"Other people can take care of that stuff while I'm gone. This isn't the first time this has happened."

"Well what about Mokuba? What about… that lady who brings you a salad every Thursday at lunch time? What about the guy who gives me a discount on coffee for you every Saturday? What about your housekeeper? What about your phone bills? You can't leave the country and just forget about all of them!"

Seto stared; "Yes, _clearly_ I need to refocus my priorities."

But Katsuya looked so forlorn, like a lost sheep. He had the greatest urge to just reach out and give him a tight hug. Maybe mention the fact that he was over-reacting by quite a large percentage.

"It's only a month."

The blond head mumbled something.

"What was that?"

"Nothing," Then, because he felt so utterly defeated, he leaned forward and rested his head on Kaiba's chest. It was nice and warm. "Just make sure you actually come back."

Seto was a bit shocked but was determined to adapt into the new environment as quickly as possible. He put his arms around the other man and said; "Don't worry, even if the plane breaks down, I'm quite prepared to swim."

* * *

Occupation was a wonderful thing; when there was something you didn't want to think about, as long as you were occupied you could be distracted from the unwelcome thoughts indefinitely. It was a great way to humour yourself and post-pone the inevitable mental breakdown.

Katsuya was currently occupying himself with a classic search for the remote control. Normally his patience was shorter than a two inch fuse, but today, because he needed the distraction, he was not ready to give up. He'd been searching now for at least twenty minutes and usually this would have ended long ago, either in his giving up and eventually asking someone else to do it, or, better circumstances preceding, simply purchasing a new television. Today was different. Today he was determined not to think about, draw near, or even remotely consider anything to do with…

"Owch." He withdrew his hand from the ominous depths of the sofa at lightning speed. Something was down there that wanted to bite.

He removed the cushions with all the delicacy of a heart surgeon, and slowly peeked at what had taken up residence within his sofa.

Well, at least it had worked for twenty minutes. A very good effort, he must say.

Sighing, Katsuya reached out and picked up the small blue and white keychain. The duel monster glared back at him ferociously, sending out a fairly obvious message; "poke me, and prepare to die."

Katsuya stared at it. The time had come, he presumed, to finally take action. To work out what was next, beyond breakfast and a shower the next morning. To either decide to like a boy, or decide to remain unchanged. To let go of all the hate he'd once felt and embrace something quite intrinsically different.

He frowned, and placed the charm on the coffee table. He would be able to see it better from there.

* * *

Seto had two phones; one for personal use, and one for public use. He'd taken both on the plane, but was only using one now.

He closed his personal phone on the call and sat staring at it for awhile, well after the screen had darkened again and it had finished telling him the length of his conversation. The little red and black dragon stared back. It didn't look menacing, it looked grumpy.

_Well, that's Jou for you. _

He had wondered if actually calling Jou, "Jou", would be a good step in a positive forward direction. He didn't want to freak him out more than he already had. No… perhaps just waiting on his answer was a good first step. If he said no then he'd have to keep calling him Jonouchi. Which was too bad; he had already almost completely replaced the noun in his thoughts, so why not in spoken dialect too?

But that was all up to the man in question. Seto didn't really know what he would do if it was a "no". Probably mourn about it for awhile but eventually get over it. Might take a bit of time though – he knew he was already getting into this deeper than he should have been.

The dragon almost seemed to agree with him, the way it was looking all accusatory and everything…

"Well it's not my fault." Seto muttered, feeling something had to be said in his defense. Who else was going to stick up for him at this late stage of the game?

He sighed, it was going to be a long month. He had already decided to wait until he got back for an answer, so there could be no rushing things. He would just have to be patient. And nervous, and worried…

Whoever said that patience was a virtue obviously had never had romantic interests in mind.

* * *

A/N: It is very possible that you have just read the second to last chapter of this story. Circumstances permitting, I will try to have the next one out for you asap. But yeah… 'soon' for me can sometimes translate to 'months'. (As loyal readers are quickly becoming aware of). So hopefully you won't have to put up with my laziness for much longer!

See you next time, and reviews are always much cherished and very encouraging


	14. Decision

I never forgot.

* * *

Disclaimer: Characters, worlds, people, games, and everything else is owned by and copyrighted to Kazuki Takahashi. This is a non-for-profit fan work with no particular personal gain in mind. I own the writing and nothing else.

* * *

It was really, very, stupid. Every time the phone rang his heart skipped just a tiny little bit. And each time he immediately reprimanded himself for allowing his subconscious that much control. Every time he walked into the office and saw a closed door, he couldn't be satisfied until it was opened just to confirm that there was still no one sitting in his chair. He looked for him everywhere, but didn't realize he was even doing this until about a week after it had started. And it had started almost immediately.

Kaiba Seto, CEO of Kaiba Corp, boss and wage payer of Jonouchi Katsuya, was in America. Not Japan. These were facts. Now if only Katsuya himself could convince his entire being, not just most of it, not to keep hoping that the arrogant, annoying, and thoroughly unattractive man was just a little closer to home. It was entirely unfitting for his insides to keep flip flopping all around the place every time someone appropriately tall with brown hair was seen walking down the street. Frankly, he was getting sick of it. He would have given himself a severe talking-to if it hadn't been a shave too close to insanity.

What was worse though, was that he wasn't too much closer to a decision yet. Sure, Kaiba was attractive and rich and had put his heart on the line just to confess his feelings… but admitting he felt the same back was like taking a running jump off a really high cliff with signs surrounding it reading: "Danger: Really High Cliff." In other words, he wasn't sure it was the smartest thing to do. Society was not 100% on his side. His friends were not 100% on his side… as much as he was aware. So far he had only confessed the truth to one of them, and he was fairly sure she had figured it out long before he had told her anyway. (Women were scary like that).

_Perhaps_, the annoying analyst within him argued, _what is more scary is the thought that you actually care about another human being that much. Maybe it's not about what gender he is, but who he is. Perhaps you feel embarrassed telling your friends that you are interested in someone like Kaiba? You have hated him for so long… Or maybe you simply fear commitment?_

Or maybe you should shut the hell up, Katsuya told himself.

But which part of that was true? All of it? None of it?

A small amount of evidence pointed to the fact that he actually did want to accept Seto's offer. …Kaiba's offer. But it was still well within his rights to say no and walk away. At this point Katsuya didn't think by saying no he would be fired, or honestly that there would be too much uncomfortableness between them at the office. Kaiba would simply go back to being distant again, and their camaraderie would diminish.

_I don't want him to be distant, _he realized with a start. He'd grown used to, fond of, Kaiba's warmly cynical approach to life, to see him quirk his lip in amusement when they argued. It certainly was much more pleasant than the hateful glares he used to receive in such situations all those years ago.

He would miss that if it went away.

He missed it now.

A panicked look stole over Katsuya's face. He missed Kaiba, he actually did. That in itself was hard to admit. But it kept coming back to a relationship… an _actual _relationship?

With _him_!?

* * *

"Mokuba this call is quickly becoming very expensive,"

"You can afford it," His younger brother said dismissively, "I haven't finished telling you about how I beat the DDR high score yet!"

"I'm very tired…" Seto tried again.

"I _know _what the time is over there Nii-sama, you can't trick me."

He sighed. Was it too late to re-consider his eternal devotion to his brother? At times like this it could really be a pain…

Mokuba continued on with his story as if he hadn't seen Seto sigh at all. He attempted to let his mind wander as the darker-haired boy ranted, but it was a bit hard as they were voice conferencing. It wasn't that he didn't want to speak to him, it was just that every time he called home to Japan his thoughts inevitably strayed to Jonouchi. He wondered what he was up to, whether he was secretly going through his files at work, or whether he had convinced payroll that Kaiba Seto himself had authorized a pay increase for all employees. But most of all, he wondered whether Jou had thought about what he had said just before he left.

He'd promised himself he wouldn't call him, wouldn't ask until he got back. He'd sent a few instructional emails regarding work issues, but was fairly sure the replies he was getting were only auto-generated response emails. After all, he was the one who had programmed them to send in the first place. No, if there was a problem at work Jou would either ask someone in the country for help, or if it was a desperate situation he would get in touch with him.

So really, the fact that there was no contact one might consider a good thing. It meant nothing was going wrong. Seto couldn't help but secretly wish that a small, tiny, fire would break out. Or that just a minor systems failure on all main consoles would occur. Just a small disaster really… it didn't need to be anything major.

He stopped. He was doing it again; caring too much. Damn that stupid blond puppy. Oh well… three more weeks and he would have his answer. That was, if Jou had actually come up with one. Four weeks _was _enough time, right?

He briefly wondered if he was pushing this too much. After all, it wasn't like he was asking a girl, he was asking a boy. Boy's handled these things differently. What he was asking wasn't normal.

One part of him nodded seriously in agreement, but another part blatantly yelled: Fuck normal, four weeks is more than enough time to work out an answer.

Besides, what was normal anymore? Come up with the weirdest relationship, the silliest stunt, the most outrageous attractions… and you could bet someone else had already come up with a theory, tested it, and posted the results on the internet. So being gay was certainly not a phenomenon localised between the two of them.

Plus, the world was a rapidly changing and constantly moving environment. At the current rate of progress, Seto was willing to bet that it wouldn't be long before gay people would be able to throw away their closets, and TV commercials would start representing happy families that weren't nuclear.

It was only a matter of time.

"Nii-sama?"

"Sorry Mokuba, I was distracted."

"That's okay," Remarkably, he actually looked slightly guilty, "I've been rambling a bit too long."

"Think nothing of it,"

He smiled, "Thanks big brother. I should let you go now though. Enjoy America! Try not to miss me too much, call me soon!" He waved, and then the screen went black as the connection was interrupted.

Seto sighed and leant back. Three more weeks. He would be happy just knowing Jou had thought about it at all, even if the answer was no.

* * *

He hadn't told Anzu about the due date for his answer, he didn't think it was really all that important. They had discussed his situation, and she had given him her opinion, and he highly suspected that if he went back to ask her more about it now, she would just give him the same one. Part of accepting Kaiba's offer meant, he assumed, furthering their relationship on a more long-term basis. Which meant, furthermore, that if they were going to be serious about such a relationship, eventually other people, namely people such as his friends, were going to have to find out about it.

"You missed!"

The problem was, none of his friends besides her actually did know about it at this stage. He'd been keeping the whole problem a secret from them because on one level he had hoped that if it happened that nothing became of it, he would never have to explain why or how to his male friends and then make sure they didn't pay him out about it for the rest of his known life. By not telling them he avoided that possibility completely, and in the end the only person besides himself he would need to explain it to would be Anzu.

"You missed again!!"

He couldn't help but feel, however, that now that things were a tad more serious he really would appreciate the input from one of his other, male, friends. Nothing against females, of course. They had their abilities. One of which, empathy, was recently demonstrated to him by Anzu. However men just had that way of stating something to you as fact. They didn't beat around the bush by getting run away explaining the complexities of feelings, or the fact that ultimately we have to be happy with who and what we are, regardless of any other persons opinion. No, a man would happily give you theirs, hand you a beer, and quickly change the topic back to football. Normally, a lot more could be read in regards to a mans opinion on a matter from a hasty, honest, smile, a pat on the back and an; "it's okay mate."

"KATSUYA!!!"

"What?"

"You suck at this game, I don't want to play doubles with you anymore. Change with Yugi." Otogi had a way of always sounding demanding.

With a lot less reluctance than the darker haired man had imagined, Katsuya got up and handed the drum sticks over to Yugi who smiled apologetically and took his seat. In less than a few moments the game started up again and a pop tune blared loudly from the large and numerous speakers around them. As Otogi had predicted, Yugi was a lot better at playing the ersatz drum kit than a distracted Katsuya had been. Anzu shot him a sympathetic smile, the only one of the group who had the greatest idea of what was on his mind, and he faintly returned the gesture.

His thought processes now were suggesting that he find himself a man's opinion on the matter. They informed him it might be infinitely beneficial to do so, and that it even might help him to come to his own decision. That all seemed fair and good, now it was just a question of who? He considered his options:

Yugi – one of his best friends, a possible target for confession and subsequent scrutinizing of their opinion on the matter. Somehow though, Katsuya had always thought of Yugi as a person who needed protecting, not the other way around. Despite the fact that Yugi had saved his life numerous times before, some of the credit went to Yami (who he wouldn't have considered going to for advice on this matter anyway and probably only ranked one higher than Bakura on the list of candidates), and on some levels he still considered Yugi to be a young and naieve individual. Katsuya would have felt he was rather corrupting his mind, bringing up his current worries.

Ryou – apart from the ways in which he was very similar to Yugi, he'd never been that close to him. It would feel odd going to Ryou for advice on something so personal, even though he was still a good friend.

Otogi – was more likely to laugh at him than be helpful.

Which really only left Honda and handful of other people he instantly dismissed as well.

Honda was a good, loyal friend who he had known for over ten years. He wasn't entirely sure what his views on homosexual people were, but he thought maybe there was a good chance that even if he didn't openly walk in gay pride parades, he would be happy to accept his friend as someone who was temporarily lenient towards men.

Plus, he wisely reminded himself, if something with Kaiba did begin to develop, he would eventually have to tell them all. He wondered whether Yugi would mind that he hadn't gone to him first? But Honda really did seem the best choice, just at this point in time anyway.

Deep down, he knew all he was really doing was trying to take his own attention away from a decision he ultimately had to make himself, by searching for other peoples. But he still had over two weeks left, so perhaps he could afford to delay crunch time for just a while longer.

Eventually Otogi lost interest in the game and they moved around the arcade to find another one. As they did Katsuya managed to catch Honda's arm long enough to ask whether he wanted to hang out at his place later on. Honda agreed under the condition that Katsuya provide the drinks.

* * *

Americans, Seto reflected, were really only good for one thing: they had money. Apart from this, they had very few other admirable qualities. They were loud, laughed too much, took your hand and shook it like they were keenly interested in detaching it from your arm, and most of them seemed to be unaware of the fact that their trousers were of an above-average size.

This was simply one more reason why he couldn't wait to get back to Japan. Of course there were still people of a similar description over there, but they were so less numerous. Most people, for example, had a keener sense of personal hygiene.

He had just finished another business meeting, and was on his way to the next, currently sitting in the back seat of a black limousine driving on the wrong side of the road. It was something he hadn't quite gotten used to yet, looking out to his left and actually seeing cars driving in the opposite direction, instead of the side walk like back home. Seto's trip here was so short it had been jam-packed with practically nothing but business, and these little rest breaks alone in the car, even a fifteen to twenty minute drive, he cherished with all the reverence of a child hoarding a particularly large chocolate Easter bunny.

It was good to have even a few minutes of peace and quiet. Normally he might spend the trip reading over some notes or his speech for the next meeting, but right now he couldn't bear the thought. He had been hit with a tidal wave of homesickness within the past few minutes, just thinking about something as simple as driving.

Something so silly would no doubt pass momentarily. Until it did, however, the compulsion to locate and check his personal phone was too great to ignore. He fished it out of his notebook bag and pressed a button on the side to illuminate the screen. He had missed no calls and received no messages. Not entirely unsurprising. If he were to check his work phone it would similarly be unsurprising for there to be twenty missed calls and eleven text messages.

The dragon attached was a constant reminder of Jou, and the lack of missed messages was a constant reminder of their lack of contact.

Suddenly frustrated, and experiencing a need to eliminate this reminder, he turned the phone off, and then threw it back into his bag.

There were still just under three weeks left until he returned home, and he seriously couldn't afford to spend that time moping about what was going on back there. He couldn't change anything right now, and he had already promised himself he wasn't going to try. His attention was better focused in this part of the world, for the sake of a continued profitable business and a promising future for his younger brother. And that would always be his top priority.

* * *

Katsuya hadn't brought it up right away. He had felt the need to wait until Honda was more than a few feet in the door to spring this revelation on him and demand his opinion. So it was that they'd inevitably been caught up playing Xbox first, and himself temporarily forgetting entirely the reason he had invited his friend over. Finally, Honda died (on screen) and announced he was bored with that particular game. Katsuya needed to strike now.

Using one hand to find the remote and turn off the TV so they didn't have to endure a loud background of static noise while they talked, he tried to open the conversation with as casual a tone as he could manage, "Hey, um, wondering if I can get your opinion on something?"

Honda did not immediately pick up on the forcedness of his speech at all, he didn't even look up as he replied, instead concentrating on packing the controllers and game cartridges away; "Sure, what's up?"

"Well, actually, it's about Kaiba."

Honda grew swiftly angry with the way the controllers didn't fit properly underneath the tv stand, and so he just left them in a pile on the floor and turned finally to his friend, "what about him? You guys have a fight?"

"Not exactly,"

"Hey, didn't you say he was in India or something at the moment?"

"America, but yeah."

"Right. Whatever. So…"

Moment of truth. It was rather painful, to be honest. "Actually, me and Kaiba have been getting along a bit better than normal lately."

Honda frowned at him, "And this is a problem because…?"

"It's not… really," Katsuya hastily corrected, "But I mean like… okay this is really hard to say." He looked at Honda and realized if he didn't spell it out though, the brunet would never understand, so he took a deep breath; "Kaiba kind of… _likes_… me. And perhaps, you know, now that I've gotten to know him a bit better and realized he is only a prick most of the time, not all of the time, that maybe I think he isn't so bad either?" Katsuya crossed his mental fingers, it hadn't emerged from his mouth quite as it had been in his head, but he hoped it was enough to make the other man understand.

Honda blinked, slowly; "So what you're saying is that Kaiba is gay? And what… you're gay too?"

"No," Katsuya shook his head, "It's just that…urr…"

Thankfully, Honda interrupted him, "Dude, it's fine. You can be gay, I won't care. Just don't hit on me."

Katsuya was kind of repulsed by the thought, "You're safe, don't worry. And to be honest, I never even considered thinking this way before Kaiba came along."

Honda looked oddly thoughtful, and then suddenly grinned; "That so? He really that fantastic in bed?"

Katsuya looked shocked, "Hey, I haven't _slept _with him or anything!" But his tone quickly dropped to something a little less harsh as the objective of this whole conversation pushed insistently at the back of his mind; "Anyway, I kind of wanted your opinion on the whole thing…"

Honda looked mildly surprised, "What? Didn't I just give you that? I said I honestly don't care who you see, be they woman, man, cross-dressing man, or goat."

Katsuya smiled, "Hey, thanks. I appreciate that."

"And I rekon Kaiba's gotten… a bit nicer since high school. Certainly seemed genuine the few time's I've met him recently."

"Yeah…" Katsuya's thoughts trailed off momentarily, "Hey, do you think anyone else will have a problem with this?" He withheld the information, for the moment, that Anzu already knew.

"Heck no. Your friends are your friends no matter what you date."

"Who," He automatically corrected him.

Honda grinned, "Sure, if you say so. But seriously, I wouldn't worry about it. Just tell us when you're ready." He leaned back in a manner Katsuya determined to mean that he considered there no more arguments to be had on that particular manner.

"Yeah, guess I just have to tell Kaiba now too," He said almost distractedly.

"Hmmm?"

Katsuya explained.

"So, you think you'll be making this decision any time soon?"

Katsuya wasn't looking at Honda, but staring off at the tv, suddenly lost in the thoughts evoked by the recent discussion. He answered in a distracted fashion, "I think I've already done that."

* * *

Seto was aware it was silly, but his instincts instructed him to rush, post-haste, to his office and seek Jonouchi's answer immediately. This would have been not only over-doing it, but the fact that it was also twelve o'clock at night meant there was every possibility on Earth that he would be home in bed asleep right now.

So rush to his house?

Now, that came close to stalker behaviour.

He would just have to force himself to wait. He'd waited four weeks, he could wait a little longer.

The drive home seemed long and endless. He had specifically instructed Mokuba not to meet him at the airport, and instead get a good nights sleep as it took priority whilst he studied. He found himself wishing his brother would stop listening to him so often.

Seto was back in the country, but he still felt far away from Jou. He wasn't exactly sure what he was going to say when he got back to work. A large part of him hoped that Jou would be kind enough to just come out and say how he felt, one way or the other, and get it over and done with. Waiting was not a task a CEO was designed for. He was used to things arriving seconds after he'd made the decision to order them.

He eventually arrived home in the quite early hours of the next morning. He had his assistants take his luggage immediately to his room, but asked them not to unpack it all until the next morning. The last thing he needed that night was for a maid to try to sneak around his room as quietly as possible unpacking everything while he tried to sleep. So instead he stared at the black designer suitcases lying next to his bed, filled with dry-cleaned clothes and ironed shirts, and moved to take off his shoes and socks.

He pulled his personal items from one of his bags and placed his phone along with his wallet next to his bed. It was then that he remembered he hadn't turned his personal phone on in almost three weeks, and, still not enjoying the reminder of Jou that it brought, he reluctantly switched it back on and let it power up. He continued getting changed into night clothes until he heard the distinct "bing bing" noise of a message received. He paused, and then turned to check that he had heard correctly, that in fact sleepiness was not incurring on his hearing ability. He illuminated the display on his phone and squinted through tired eyes to see what all the fuss was about.

He had indeed received a message. And two missed calls, apparently. He checked the text message. It was from his phone company informing him that the second time the caller had rung he had left a voice mail message.

Seto instantly dismissed the possibility that it was Mokuba; Mokuba would not have stopped at just one voice mail, nor was it likely that if he had really wanted to speak to his brother he wouldn't have done so by other more 'official' channels. Using the work phone for personal use was a private hobby of the younger Kaiba. Which meant a relative perhaps? Not many people actually had this number, he didn't like just handing it to everyone, so only very important members of staff had it, just incase there was an emergency and they couldn't possibly reach him any other way. (Which added ever so slightly to Seto's level of guilt as he realized he'd had the thing switched off for nearly three weeks).

Wait… members of staff?

It was about the longest shot in the world, but Seto was too curious not to find out. Besides, if it was unimportant he would simply address it in the morning, and apologise for not getting back to the caller sooner.

He dialed the voice message retrieval number and waited for a spirited pre-recorded Japanese woman to inform him that he had one new message. (Well sure, why else would he be checking it). He waited quite tensely for the message to play, and once it did his heart very nearly stopped.

"Hi…um…Kaiba. It's Jou. I know it's early but I thought if I didn't say this now I'd probably change my mind. To be honest, I'm not… I wasn't even sure if you were serious when you said it. And I feel more than a little weird saying this over the phone, but hey, you aren't exactly in the country. I think… I mean, okay… I like you. God knows why, but there, I said it. Well, that's it I suppose. I guess I'll see you when you get back. Bye."

The pre-recorded women, completely unaware that his life had just been turned upside down once more, continued on chirpily to announce the time and date of the message.

It had been sent two weeks ago.

Seto suddenly realized he was somehow standing next to the door. He blinked, now wide awake. He wasn't sure if what he'd just heard was actually real or not; but there would be time to clarify such things as he heard it again in the car.

* * *

Katsuya was sure the first time he heard it, he had dreamt it. So he had ignored it and tried to go back to sleep. Then he had heard it again and this time had been slightly less sure that it wasn't _actually_ someone ringing his doorbell in the middle of the night, rather than him simply dreaming someone was ringing his doorbell in the middle of the night.

Which, to be perfectly honest, was quite an odd thing to dream about in the first place, he knew.

It took a few seconds for him to get his eyes open, and then a few more while he blinked and attempted to get his brain to focus on the present. Nothing about him was really awake, but he somehow managed to pull himself from his bed and in the general direction of the front door, aided (it should be noted) with no lack of help from the sturdy walls of the apartment. He reached a space about three or four steps from the door when he paused and waited. If he really had been dreaming, all that would happen when he opened his door would be a gust of freezing night air entering in to ruin the residual warmth from the bed covers.

So he waited, just to see.

Some long moments passed, and he turned to leave when…

DING DONG.

Well, guess it was real then. Still blinking and not nearly awake, Katsuya lurched forward and twisted the few locks on his door and then pulled it open. It wasn't, he decided, exactly the person he had expected at this hour.

"K…Kaiba?" He slurred slightly as he braced himself on the door frame with one arm. "Do you know what time it is?"

Seto realized in exactly the kind of sudden way you realize that you've locked your keys inside your car, that this was probably one of the most irrational things he might have done. Apparently, he had absolutely no self control when it came to Jou, and some part of his brain had actually imagined it was a _good _idea to be waking him up at 3:30 in the morning to say hi. The poor boy looked completely bedraggled.

"Yes, I'm completely sorry. Go back to sleep." And with that, he turned around and walked back down the hall to the elevator.

Katsuya stared, although it might have looked more like a squint to the common passerby. He attempted to process what had just happened but he still wasn't exactly sure. Had Kaiba just shown up on his doorstep, apologized for waking him, and then turned to go home again?

He was fairly sure that was the case, but his logic processors just weren't buying it.

If that _was_ the case however, the only part of him that seemed to be working wisely asked him; why are you letting him leave?

_Oh! He'd completely forgotten he liked Seto too and had spent the last four weeks without him, wishing he was back already. _

Well, almost forgotten.

"Kaiba, wait!" Katsuya called, ignoring the distinct need for footwear and warmer clothes and rushing out of the apartment in his pajamas.

Seto was a few houses down, not quite at the elevator yet, when he heard the call and stopped to turn around. Seeing Jou rush towards him wearing next to nothing like that made his chest inexplicably tighten.

Katsuya pulled up short, the cold air had woken him considerably now and he properly took in the other man standing before him. Kaiba didn't look like he had slept in awhile, his shirt looked distinctly crumpled, like it hadn't been taken off for perhaps a day or two, and his hair looked like it could do with a decent brush. A thought struck him: had Kaiba come straight from the airport to his house!?

"Jonouchi, I apologize for waking you up…" Seto tried again, not even close to what he actually wanted to say, but he first needed to gauge whether Jou was annoyed by this or not.

Katsuya waved a hand dismissively, "It's okay, it's not like I was fast asleep or anything. I mean, healthy people are normally wide awake at this time right?"

Seto winced, but knew he was joking. "Well, as you can see, I certainly am."

Katsuya didn't try to hide his smile, "Can we go inside? I'm freezing out here."

Seto nodded, and followed the other back to his door. He had a very strong desire to reach out his arm and put it around the other to shield him from the cold, but he resisted it. He wasn't exactly sure quite where they were just now; he didn't want to push the boundaries before he needed to.

The door safely locked behind him, Katsuya felt it was only polite to offer Kaiba something to eat or drink, but he refused both. He felt the need to ask, "So have you, uh, slept at all? You look a bit worn out… You haven't come from the airport have you?"

Seto wasn't the kind of man who blushed, but if he was he would have used this opportunity to do so. He coughed instead, "Um, perhaps."

Katsuya was silent for a few moments, and suddenly he felt quite nervous having Kaiba standing there in the middle of his untidy apartment. His eyes flicked from the sprawling mess of video games gathered in a vague pile next to the television, to the numerous socks scattered all over the floor, to the … underwear? … hanging from the top of his cupboard door.

Oh Jesus.

How did it even get up there?

Apparently Kaiba hadn't noticed any of this however, (or if he had he chose not to comment), and was instead staring intently at him. For some reason that made Katsuya's insides turn into a squiggly pile of jelly.

"Uh…s…so you came here instead of going home to sleep did you?" He asked the general direction of the wall somewhere to Kaiba's right.

"Yes. I got your message," The other man prompted. Katsuya was hit with a sudden remembrance of that particular message, and he could feel his cheeks turning a bright shade of scarlet.

"Is that so? Well, good to hear you're keeping up to date with things."

Seto took a distinct step toward the blond. He was beginning to realize that Jou was never going to act on his own in this sort of situation (drunkenness aside), so something needed to come from himself. "It made me very happy,"

Kaiba's tone was suddenly a lot softer and distinctly more serious, and it sent shivers right down Katsuya's spine. He couldn't think of anything to say in the few more seconds it took the other to complete the short distance between them and entangle them together in the most mind-blowing kiss he thought he'd ever experienced.

When they broke apart he thought he was going to melt, luckily Kaiba's arms were wrapped around his waist and were holding him nicely upright.

"You realize you can't take it back once you've said it, right?"

"Mmmm…said what?"

"That you like me too." Seto spoke into his neck, making Katsuya heat up considerably.

"Well, so far you haven't done _too _much to convince me I've made the wrong decision. Save waking me up at this ungodly hour of course."

"I thought you'd forgiven me for that already."

He paused, "Not quite yet. I might need a bit more convincing that it was worth missing the sleep."

Seto pulled back and looked him in the eye, "I might be able to find some way to do that,"

Katsuya thought he looked like he had purely sinful thoughts in mind. He also thought he didn't care.

After that, there wasn't much else to be said… also within minutes neither of them were wearing any clothes, which left little time for many more words to be considered anyway. They kept going because, Katsuya would later ponder, they no longer really had a reason to stop. Almost all his reservations had blown out the door the minute he had opened it to let Kaiba in. Plus it was feeling really good, and he had been taught long ago that if you found a good thing, you shouldn't throw it away.

Katsuya would also later reflect that being the 'girl' of a relationship (something he had at the odd moment pondered would be utterly embarrassing) did also come with a tiny amount of good points. He was assured it would become nicer with practice.

He assumed there would be lots more opportunities to do just that…

* * *

Katsuya woke up with a start. Normally he might have shot straight up and taken a look around, this morning a number of things stopped him doing this. Not least of all was that he was very aware of the fact that someone else was there in his bed. Wide and alert, he turned to look at Seto sleeping next to him. His brown hair fell all over his eyes, and with something of a minor fixation Katsuya watched his naked chest rise and fall with the slow rhythm of a sleep regulated breathing pattern.

It would take a lot to turn back now, but he knew deep down that he really didn't want to. Gingerly he eased himself up to more of a sitting position and looked down at the other man. Kaiba looked so peaceful as he was now, and Katsuya felt a strong desire to see this image again at a later date. He touched his hair, and Seto stirred very slightly but didn't wake up.

Neither of the two men really _did _mushy interactions. Katsuya's current actions had him walking a very thin line between 'acceptable' and 'womanly' in this department. So he wasn't going to be overly familiar with his 'feelings' in this case, what had happened was simply what naturally occurred next when two people expressed an inclination towards one another.

Besides, one of the things he liked most about Kaiba was the CEO's ability to not take _everything_ too seriously, to always be able to look at things from a sarcastic point of view, and to forever be ready with a come-back. (However serious some of the things he had said last night might have sounded). He was so far away thinking about this that he didn't notice Seto's eyes open.

"You know, I honestly believed it took work to get your hair looking that disheveled everyday, but apparently it comes naturally."

Katsuya raised an eyebrow, "You're not exactly an oil painting yourself in the mornings. Do you normally get someone to do your makeup before you leave the bedroom, or after your morning coffee?"

Seto smirked, the little interaction actually now filled him with an unexplainable feeling of happiness. "Speaking of coffee?"

Katsuya also displayed a small smile of his own, "You know where the kitchen is. Don't think I'm getting anything for you today."

"Actually I am unfamiliar with the particular layout of this establishment, I didn't exactly spend too much time examining it last night."

Katsuya contemplated how easy it would be to remove the pillow from under his head and proceed to impale him with it. Instead, as if to further prove his defiance, he flopped pointedly back down onto the mattress and crossed his arms; "Well I'm definitely not getting up, if you want some you can get it yourself."

"Actually, I'm less inclined also, now that you're lying back down next to me."

Katsuya went bright red, and turned, hiding his face against Seto's body. "Shutup." He ordered with no amount of conviction.

Remarkably, Kaiba said nothing for quite a few minutes, and Katsuya took a peek up to see what was going on, only to find the other man had apparently dozed off again. He rested his head back down and in his own remarkably comfortable position, actually became overwhelmed with a similar urge to return to a less wakeful state.

_I think we've earned the morning off_, Katsuya thought right before he drifted off once again. It was, without question, the most contented sleep he had enjoyed in months.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

OWARI

End Note (rant): If you're reading this, it means you made it right through to the end of the story/novel/fan fiction I wrote in my spare time to save myself from the pressures of a seemingly permanent career as a student. There are a number of reoccurring reviewers who I would love to thank for you continued support while I wrote this. The end… was kind of simple and lame, I will concede. If I am to be perfectly honest with you readers, I did lose quite a lot of inspiration and enthusiasm for this fic. Mainly owing to the fact that I stopped reading the YuGiOh manga, and departed from the fandom for quite awhile. As yet I still haven't seen the ending to the series. Yes, I'm _that_ bad. Maybe something will eventually come along which will jump start my love capacitor and make me obsessed with it again. But until then…

"No sex scene? WTF Man!!" Yes, sorry about that. In the end I couldn't bring myself to write one. The nature of this story is entirely humorous and nonsensical. I decided not only would I do a terrible job at writing one, but that it somewhat imposed on the disposition of the writing to begin with to have something so incredibly serious. (And if that wasn't tooting my own horn enough, I'm not sure what is).

I guess at the very end, the whole reason this story is even finished is because a couple of people right across on the other side of the world I've never met wanted it to be. I managed to actually finish something and it's thanks to your support. It wouldn't have made it past two chapters if it weren't for you guys, so thank you, very much. Humanity is a funny old thing, though remarkable, in its ability to connect.


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